AGAINST ALL ODDS PASSION

Despite losing his right arm at 10, Sayer Abdullah, 23, now drives an SUV and goes on off-road trips, reports Khalid Bashir Gura

- Khalid Bashir Gura

On the morning of September 17, 2007, a school bus carried students wearing neatly ironed uniforms to school. A fifth-grader always liked to sit near the driver. He watched with awe as the driver shifted gears, applied brakes, accelerated speed, and made way in traffic jams. But that day this proved fatal as the bus met with an accident.

When little Sayer Abdullah, now 23, a resident of Anantnag opened his eyes he found himself at a hospital. His worried parents were consoling him but he was in shock.

Amputation

The school bus’s brakes had failed. It had collided with a rock and turned upside down. One of Sayer’s schoolmates died while he was referred to Srinagar’s Bone and Joints hospital. After his condition deteriorated, he was referred to Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura. There, the doctor’s had to take a tough decision to save his life and amputated his right arm.

Little Abdullah was oblivious to the doctors’ consensus and his parent’s agony.

“Later I realized that my right arm was missing,” Sayer said. I told my parents not to worry. I had accepted my fate”.

Deep inside, he was worried about his future. The scary images of the amputated beggars on streets and the tough life of specially-abled people in the society would routinely flash on his mind.

“I thought I may have to spend the rest of my life in a room and be dependent on people,” he said. “But my parents and friends consoled me and never let me feel that a part of my body is missing”.