‘There is no greater disability in society than the inability to see a person as more. The only disability in life is a bad attitude.’ True that Miss India Wheelchair Priya Bhargava is an apt example of the quote.
Priya Bhargava was an all-rounder in school, an aspirant medical student until she encountered one of the rarest life-threatening diseases called Lupus. At the time of diagnosis, she was barely 19 years old. The syndrome took a sharp turn and left her at the mercy of steroids. For Priya, moving an inch, walking, and living an everyday life seemed impossible. But they say, ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’ similar thing happened in her case. She couldn’t get rid of the disease but achieved the highest position and made her life worth living. Let us know her story.
Miss India Wheelchair Priya Bhargava – Her Story
I’m Priya Bhargava, an army kid, born and raised in different parts of India due to my dad’s transferable job. From my school days, I’ve been a very studious kid. I was good with everything. People used to praise me for being multi-talented. They said, ‘Priya will achieve great success in the future.’ I dreamt of getting high positions. Then I got into a medical college, and I was all set to become a doctor.
But my happiness was short-lived as I was diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening medical condition, Lupus. It all began from normal butterfly rashes over my face and discoid marks on my fingers. I consulted a doctor, and I was misdiagnosed with malaria due to high fever, shivering, and joint pain. The second misdiagnosis was typhoid due to the relapse of the same symptoms. So he treated me accordingly, but it didn’t change anything; instead, it made it worse.
Then an army doctor who had dealt with a similar case before identified my disease. He said, ‘I think you have Lupus. I’m not sure about it, but your symptoms are similar to the previous cases I’ve handled before. You should get the checkup done.’ I was hospitalized, and doctors sent my blood for the test to a special lab. When reports arrived, the doctor disclosed that his doubt was right. I was indeed suffering from Lupus, and the disease has no cure at all. You can only manage it.
Lupus is a rare condition in which your immune system works as an enemy of your health. Instead of protecting, it harms your internal organs. It can damage any internal organ such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other vital organs. This condition leads to other serious health issues. In my case, it damaged my spinal cord.
It was a depressing time for my family and me. I didn’t know how to deal with the heartbreak. I was a young, ambitious, fun-loving girl, but the disease turned my life towards a hostile zone. It made me incapable, and I could do nothing about it.
I was a medical student and a rank holder, as I told you before. I didn’t want to lose the position or even let it affect my studies. So I continued to attend my classes. Initially, it was fine. I was attending classes and managing everything properly. However, with time, the disease started killing me from inside. Walking, climbing stairs, sitting for long hours, and using the washroom without anyone’s help became difficult.
Apart from it, I was missing college very often to visit the doctor. As a medical student, you cannot skip a whole day and sit in the next class as nothing significant happened. My friends stopped telling me much about the previous class. They’d give the half details and skip the other half only to toil me.
On the other hand, medicines were breaking my stamina bit by bit. I had tongue soars and many other issues. I was familiar with the condition as I had read a lot about it, but you know what, “Being a doctor and being a patient are two different things.”
I told my doctor that the medicines were not suiting me. He changed the medicine. From here, I began to lose hair. The doctor had informed me in advance, but I didn’t know it would leave me half-bald.
It affected my confidence, but I didn’t give up. I used to wear a headband or scarf to cover it up. Sometimes I covered the space with a black marker. My professors were in support and understood the severity of the disease. However, my batch mates treated me horribly.
They hardly helped me out, even in difficult situations. They’d see me struggling and laugh over my condition. My friend’s group had cut me off. They did help sometimes but halfheartedly. Naughty students rudely taunted me without understanding what I was going through.
They made me feel so worthless that I started skipping college purposely. I belonged to a humble family where which prioritized my career. My parents didn’t accept my behavior. So anyhow, I resumed attending college without anyone’s support.
One day, I wasn’t feeling well, so I asked the lecturer to go home. She agreed instantly as she was well aware of my condition. When I went home, I started hallucinating. I could see paintings moving around my eyes. Then I began to cry, and I cried vigorously and inconsolably.
My mother reached home, and she asked me, ‘What happened to you?’ I had no idea what was happening to me. Then I told the doctor to do the surgery on my brain. He directed my parents to a psychiatrist, and you won’t believe I didn’t get inside the hospital. I ran away, and my parents had to bring me back. We had a conversation, and all my symptoms were similar to Schizophrenia.
It was a massive blow to my heart. Doctors suspected my condition, and after going through a series of tests, they diagnosed me with clinical depression, i.e., Schizophrenia. It was pure terror because Schizophrenia is a condition that doesn’t let you live your life peacefully. For example, if the news is coming on TV, I think it is related to me. If a group of people is talking about something and I’m looking from afar, I’ll think they are talking about me, or rather they’re badmouthing me. I used to doubt my parents that they wanted to kill me. I had turned so violent that I used to attack my sister.
With my parent’s support, I underwent its treatment. Fortunately, I recovered within two and a half months. I resumed college, and I indulged myself in creativity and art. I did everything to get over the phase, to keep myself busy.
Despite doing everything, I wasn’t in a condition to compete with other students. Because of medication, I used to sleep a lot. Sometimes, I’d sleep in the class as well. My lecturers asked my parents to send me to the college even if I faced minor issues due to medicines. Then they stopped supporting me because there were other children to be taken care of. They couldn’t have given me their complete attention.
The worst happened when I failed the final exam of my first year. I was a rank holder, and I couldn’t accept the failure. Helplessly, I decided to discontinue my college as I knew how hard it was to get a seat in a medical college, and I couldn’t ruin it for someone else. So it was better than I left it.
Now, I was blank. I didn’t know how to handle this new life. So I immersed myself in my hobbies. I did painting, crafts, writing poetry, and many other things to heal my mind. It was a terrible time in my life.
Then I started facing trouble walking, and I even discussed it with my doctor. They thought it was either a side effect of medicine or Schizophrenia. They couldn’t fathom that my spine was involved, and it was severely damaged. Rather than doing an MRI, they went for CT Scan and said that it managed my brain was damaged.
Dad’s doctor friend guessed it. He said, ‘I think her spine is involved. You should take her to the other doctor and get it checked.’ My parents lied to the doctor and took me to another hospital. This new doctor revealed the truth and named a rare drug that I was supposed to be given. He clearly warned my parents, saying, ‘If we don’t give her the drug, she won’t survive.’ But it was an immune system suppressing drug that is given to 70 years older people. My father got in touch with another doctor who called my doctor, and within three days, we relocated to Chandigarh.
They all suggested inducing the drug, and we didn’t have any option left. Doctors injected the drug when my parents signed the consent form. It did help me recover, and I was bedridden for 18 months.
At that time, I was pursuing a diploma in nutrition which was about to end, but unfortunately, I couldn’t give the exam as an insect had bit my hand. It turned into an elephant hand full of yellow liquid that came out whenever I touched it. The doctor had tied a sprint in my leg so I wouldn’t jerk it again and again. They knew the infection was spreading in my entire body but fathom the real cause behind it.
It turned so bad that they could easily see my bones through a hole. My doctors were horrified as they didn’t know what to treat. Apart from it, many bacterias were involved in the wounds. They used to give me multi-spectrum antibiotics. In the end, after trying their level best, they said, ‘Sorry, we cannot treat her here. Take her to Delhi. Maybe, they can help. Otherwise, we will have no option but to cut her leg.’
Later, my father took the posting to Delhi to facilitate my treatment. We shifted to Delhi, and I was admitted to an Army Hospital. You won’t believe they didn’t even open my wounds and directly suggested medicines.
Post 7 days, they discharged me, saying, ‘She might catch some other diseases as her immune system is weak.’ I was staying at my house. The pain was unbearable. It wouldn’t let me sleep at night. My bed used to get filled with pus and the room with the smell of stale flesh.
After a while, my mother couldn’t take it. She yelled at the doctor, saying, ‘How could you even discharge her in such miserable condition? Is it not your responsibility to treat her? Can you please open her bandage and see what is happening to her?’ They admitted me back, and the doctor was horror-struck when he untied the sling. My wound had turned so wretched that he couldn’t bear to look at it. The back muscles of my thigh were gone.
For the next four and half months, I was admitted, and I underwent five significant surgeries for debridement (removal of damaged tissues) and skin grafting.
During hospitalization, I had almost lost my life as my temperature had reached 107°C. The doctor informed my parents, saying, ‘If someone wants to meet her, call them now.’ My parents did call our relatives, but a few of them said, ‘Let her die, then we will come.’ Luckily, I survived through the ordeal and returned to life. It was truly unexpected for everyone, including me as well. After going through such pain, I had lost my hopes in life, but it did return to me.
From here, life took another sharp turn, and unforeseen events unfolded the following chapters of my story.
Continue reading part – 2 of Miss India Wheelchair Priya Bhargava.
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