ON A ROLL

Virali Modi, India's first wheelchair model, on how she found the courage to follow her dreams

- SUMITRA NAIR ALLEKAS

Virali Modi was declared dead for seven minutes. It all began when she caught malaria at the age of 14, when she was returning home to Pennsylvania in the US after a trip to Mumbai. The doctors prescribed paracetamol for her high fever and sent her home. The next day, she was not able to walk properly or urinate. She was rushed to the hospital where the doctors performed a lumbar puncture after an MRI revealed a shadow in the cervical region of her spine. As they tried to extract the fluid surrounding the spinal cord, she went into a seizure and threw up; half the vomit went into her lungs. She could not breathe and went into cardiac arrest. After being declared dead for seven minutes, she stayed in a coma for 20 days.

On September 21, 2006, the doctors told her parents that pulling the plug would be the best option, as there was not much hope of her waking up. Her mother requested that she be kept alive for another eight days as, on September 29, she would turn 15. The doctors agreed. After seeking permission from the dean of medicine, her family and friends threw her a birthday party. “As soon as the cake was cut, I opened my eyes,” says Modi, 31. “It was a miracle!”

However, she soon found that she was paralysed neck down. Although she tried to remain positive, her resolve flagged when friends started ostracising her for being a “vegetable”. “I attempted suicide twice after this,” she says. “After the second time, I was sitting on the floor of my room and crying when my mom walked in. She caressed me for a while. Then she asked, ‘Ho gaya tera natak?’ (‘Done with your drama?’) She gave me tough love.”