A gritty student from a Sewri school did not let her broken spine break her resolve to succeed in life. Despite suffering from spinal bifida or ‘split spine’, she aced her Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams with 91.45% and stood first in her school.Saima Memon, 15, a student of Our Lady of Fatima High School in Golanji Hill Road, was born with a spine disorder, where her spinal cord or its covering could not develop completely, making her one leg shorter than the other. It meant she would never grow more than four feet in height and would always have to walk with an orthopaedic shoe.

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Memon said, “Right from childhood, I knew I was different. I would always draw stares, giggles, finger-pointing and sympathetic glances, which was the worst part. I did not want to stand apart. I was desperate to blend in.”

She turned her mind to studying with a fierce determination and an unrelenting spirit. Her brother Salman, who is pursuing his final year of engineering from KJ Somaiya College, said, “We never expected that she would do so well in her exams. The odds were against her. I would always tease her saying that she would not be able to score more than 70%, but she accepted my words as a challenge and won.”

She was supported by her school teachers, who were sensitive to her needs and taught her classmates to empathise with her condition rather than make fun of her. “Instead of admonishing my classmates for teasing me, my teachers taught them to care for me. This helped more than any punishment would have, as it taught my classmates to see the world through my eyes. My teachers have been my pillar of strength,” added Memon.

Her teachers said that Memon is a teacher’s pet. “Despite her handicap, Memon was the most active girl in the school, always willing to take part in inter-school competitions and ready to help her teachers with school charts,” said Gorretti Rebeiro, her school supervisor.

Memon aspires to pursue a career in computer science. Number crunching comes easily to her as Maths is her favourite subject and she scored 148 out of 150 in the subject in her board exams. “I like Maths because it is governed by simple rules and as long as you follow those, you will always get the right answer. I wish life was that easy,” she said.