hi, an interesting news read in toi is attached you will surely appreciate the travails and the stamina of solanki regards
Mumbai: Sham Soma Solanki may be a short man,but the list of his ailments is excruciatingly long. From the humble hernia to the mind-numbing cancer, from diabetes to a crippling stroke, this mukadam in the Thane municipal corporation has reportedly suffered 20 ailments in his 47 years of life. In fact, his doctors have sent his medical papers to the Guinness Book of World Records for consideration. Solanki was discharged from Jupiter Hospital in Thane last week after recovering from his latest health emergency—a heart attack that was followed by a high-risk bypass surgery. Considering that he suffers from congestive heart failure (last year, doctors drained out 5 lts of liquid from his lungs) and two of his ribs were removed after they developed gangrene, Solanki’s heart was indeed a difficult one to operate on, cardiac surgeon Jayesh Dhareshwar, who was part of the 10-member team treating Solanki, said. AGAINST ALL ODDS His woes started with diabetes Mumbai: Sham Soma Solanki, who has suffered from 20 ailments in his 47 years of life, recently had a heart attack. “His lung condition was so bad that four hospitals refused to operate on him. His heart’s pumping action, too, was barely 25,’’ cardiologist Vijay Surase from the same hospital said. Solanki confesses that his family—wife Sujata, a Shiv Sena corporator, and two sons—was convinced that this was his last stop. “We had approached many doctors who said I wouldn’t make it beyond the operation table. We are ecstatic that I managed to come this far,’’ said the man who has a story to relate for most of the cuts and stitches on his body. Dr Surase said, “We have performed various immunology tests on Solanki, but he doesn’t seem to have a particular condition that may have contributed to these 20 diseases.’’ The count of 20 also includes bouts of malaria, dengue and typhoid. The cardiologist has, in fact, sent Solanki’s case study along with his health reports to the Guinness Book of World Records in London. The 40-day scrutiny may or may not earn Solanki the unhealthy distinction of having suffered from the maximum number of ailments but doctors are convinced that he is among the rarest of patients. “Last seven years have been terrible. There has been a new health problem every few months,’’ says Solanki, who has been in and out of hospitals over this period. His problem began 15 years ago with the diagnosis of diabetes. “I had only had a hernia operation before that.’’ In 2003, he was diagnosed with cancer, which was shortly followed by a stroke that paralysed his right side. “If not for my wife and elder son, I wouldn’t have managed,’’ he says. “When doctors discovered my cancer—Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (lymph node cancer)—my friends told me that I should make merry till I am alive. Their advice was to smoke and drink to my heart’s content.’’ Not surprisingly then, Solanki smoked 10 cigarettes a day. That was until his heart attack on May 28. But he now promises to reform. “Given my son’s dedication to ensure that I stay healthy, I will take care of myself now,’’ he said. In 2004, doctors found TB meningitis that was followed by an attack of gangrene in his left arm. “One of the most scary moments was in 2006,’’ Solanki says, “when doctors discovered an abscess in my hip.’’ He was advised an amputation as the muscles were nectorised (dead). “I took a year of daily cleaning-up to save my leg,’’ says Solanki, showing off the four-clover mark on his buttock. Then, a mass was discovered on his windpipe that temporarily robbed him of his voice even as his kidney suddenly failed in 2008. Last year, gangrene developed on two of his rib bones, needing them to be removed. Then came the discovery of heart failure and asthma, before the heart attack on May 28. A senior doctor from a South Mumbai hospital, however, feels that Solanki’s plight is the combination of compromised immunology and a bad lifestyle. “He must surely have some predisposing factors such as alcohol or smoking and some genetic predisposition that must have led to such multiple condition,’’ the doctor said.
