Small Miracles

A woman on a mission, Irene Mary, an MBBS student who lost out to multiple sclerosis, toils endlessly to ensure that nobody should suffer the mental trauma that December 2004 caused on the peace-loving and easy-going Nicobarese.
Advocating the rights of mental health patients, no one would imagine that this was the same person who was entirely paralysed for 5 years of her life. Admitted into the Jawaharlal Institute of Post Medical and Research Centre in 1996, she started showing the first signs and symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis one year later, but since she was the first case of multiple sclerosis, no one there could identify exactly what she was suffering from, so they'd write it off as stress.
"First the fevers started, none of the doctors could explain it and I didn't want to be a burden to anyone, so I stopped complaining about it to anyone. But the fevers kept getting more frequent and I would shiver and get raggers due to it as time went by. By 1999 it was so severe that I went to the hospital, complaining of a pain in my spine as well, but what the doctors didn't realize was that there was an inflammation in my brain. So again they wrote it off as nothing serious and sent me off. As I exited the gate, I felt an unbearable shooting pain that began from my middle finger right up to my ear and I couldn't bear it. That's when I was carried back into the hospital and then they found out what I was suffering from. By then it was so severe that I had lost sight in one eye and my entire body was paralysed.
So I came home, but even lifting a glass was like a puzzle, slowly I could move my hands but could not feel any sensation in them so my sense of touch could only be established through seeing. I would judge from the impression my hands made on the glass, whether or not I was holding it tight enough. When my sister went out, I would wash and scrub clothes trying to feel the cloth or the soap or the water against my skin. I would do the house chores trying to stand. My brothers would accompany me onto the road and hold my arms while I tried to walk slowly.
Now I can even read in candle light, I can walk steadily without anyone's help, it's a miracle and I want to help as many people as possible. My real improvement started after the tsunami when I came back to see what I could do for my people.
Here the people were so troubled that Dr Sunil Kumar from G.B. Pant Hospital came down and conducted a survey and subsequently, mental health camps were held every once a month," said the 29-year old, one of the six enthusiasts who returned on March 20 this year from Calcutta after a seven-day training camp in mental health care.
"We go from home to home, counselling and giving medications because they have nowhere to bring their family members to if they feel there is something wrong," informs Irene, adding, "At one of the homes we went to just after the tsunami, a 21-year-old boy was shackled in chains, and his wrists were bleeding and swollen. His parents at the time had no choice but to chain him because he was wild with some sort of rage that no one could understand. He would just attack anyone who came near him." But back then; this was the condition of a large number of people on the island. In such a state, there is no ward, referring doctor or mental health specialist on the island.
"Some of us saw the extent of the trauma and decided that something needs to be done. They are the most neglected people in the world. So we would move around and collect all the cases for Sevak's doctors who would come down from Calcutta every once a month. Today, that very same boy plays games and laughs with and entertains his friends and family," informs Irene. Sevak (Saints and Enthusiastic Association of Kolkata) sent a group of three doctors who would use Irene's assistance in treating patients from the island. Irene was working under Action Aid, an NGO present in the islands at the time.
Today, Irene along with her group of six enthusiastic trainees, wish to register their NGO, Dosti, and has requested the Central Government to help fund a Mental Healthcare Centre where people could bring their family members in case of emergencies.