Arunima recovers, to get ready for paralympics

Ninety-nine days after she was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (Aiims) Trauma Centre, the 23-year-old volleyball player Arunima Sinha, who lost her left leg when she was thrown off a running train by chain-snatchers near Bareilly in April, walked out of the hospital on Tuesday.

Ninety-nine days after she was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (Aiims) Trauma Centre, the 23-year-old volleyball player Arunima Sinha, who lost her left leg when she was thrown off a running train by chain-snatchers near Bareilly in April, walked out of the hospital on Tuesday.

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“I want to play again. Preparing for paralympics is my immediate goal now,” said Sinha with a smile. Paralympics is an international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete. “After my injury, I feared my dreams will be cut short, but now I can say with confidence that all is not lost,” she said.

Walking with ease with an advanced prosthesis that costs R3.5 lakh, it’s nearly impossible to tell that Sinha’s lost one of her legs. “She has been given the best prosthesis for free and has received the best plastic surgery. But what has also helped is her determination. In another three weeks she will be walking like any other normal person,” said Dr MC Misra, chief, Trauma Centre.

Her left leg was crushed when it came under the wheels of another train passing on the parallel track.

She had also suffered fractures in three vertebrae, pelvic bone and right leg.

During her stay in the hospital, Sinha also received professional beauty training funded by Shahnaz Husain to help her become self-reliant and financially independent in future. “I was convinced that doing a beauty course while she was recuperating in the hospital will help Arunima avoid post-recovery depression and help her post-operative recovery,” said Husain.

“Though I’m expecting a job from the Railways, who knows I may become a business woman-cum-athlete,” Sinha said. On an average, AIIMS trauma centre gets one patient like Sinha every day, who needs a limb. “We hope many more people will come forward to help such people like they did in Arunima’s case,” said Dr Misra.