Among the several burning the midnight oil to pass their HSC exams with flying colours was 19-year-old Yash Mehta. And this despite the fact that he has osteochondroma (bone tumour). A commerce student and resident of Borivli, Mehta is happy to have fought against the odds and passed with 63% in his Std XII board exams.
Mehta, a student of Borivli Education Society's Sheth Gopalji Hemraj High School, was diagnosed seven days before his SSC exams in 2010-11. Doctors advised an urgent operation and, due to that and chemotherapy, he couldn't take his Std X board exams. He took them later in 2011 and scored 62%.
"I am happy with my score as I know in what condition I appeared for my papers. I was able to score well because I understood the concepts of my lessons. I want to be an MBA and for that I am going to take admission in Bachelor in Management Studies (BMS)," said Mehta.
"I have decided to become a businessman like Ratan Tata. I had met him once and was given 10 minutes to talk to him, but I ended up talking for 45 minutes. My message to everyone is to never give up in life. My bone cancer is still spreading but not as fast as earlier, thanks to medication."
Another such fighter and survivor is Ammar Jawadwala, 19, a science student. Jawadwala, who has acute lymphoblastic leukemia (blood cancer), scored 58.15%. He was diagnosed with it in 2012, when he was about to finish his FYJC. He, however, finished FYJC and then went in for chemotherapy, after which he took a year's drop.
The Nagpada resident said he never imagined that he would land up in hospital after his first HSC exam paper, English. However, he said, he was determined to appear for his physics paper and that determination gave him the strength to do it.
"I wasn't expecting this score... it had become difficult for me to even walk to my centre during the English exam. I was admitted to Saifee hospital. I thank god that there was a break of a few days before the physics exam. I wasn't able to stand even ahead of the second paper, but I requested my doctor to give me three hours' leave to appear for it. I now wish to pursue BMS and, for that, I am applying to Hinduja college," Jawadwala said.
However, unlike these youngsters, 19-year-old Dhaval Lodaya, who scored 68%, is not here to celebrate his result.
Dhaval, a commerce student, died when a Kasara-CST local train derailed near Titwala on March 20. According to his family, he died because he wasn't given first aid on time.
His father Mayur said, "Dhaval was expecting to score more, actually... he wanted to be a chartered accountant."
"DRM office has asked us to be present for the inquiry report on Tuesday. We will be accompanied by BJP's Kirit Somaiya," he added.
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