Mumbai, Apr 5 (Mid-day) : On December 22, Andheri-resident Rohan Karkada boarded the local, unaware that his life would soon turn upside down. The 21-year-old college student met with an accident and lost his right arm, a few days before Christmas. While he survived an amputation and septicaemia, his ordeal is far from over.

“I was finally discharged on January 13 and was bedridden for the next two months,” said the 21-year-old. Despite a series of unfortunate events, he is determined to lead a normal life and decided to appear for his first year BA exams. “I didn’t want to waste an entire year,” he added.

His last paper, English literature, was yesterday, which he completed with the help of his writer, Vicky Gupta.

“My literature paper went well. I had missed a few exams because of my accident and will be done with them by April 19.”

Rohan is currently undergoing physiotherapy. While friends of the family have loaned money to help foot his hospital bills, with an average prosthetic arm costing more than R12 lakh, his parents are still anxious about his future.

The mishap

The incident took place at Andheri station around 10.30 pm. “He was on his way to Bandra to attend his friend’s birthday party, and decided to take the train. Next thing we know, we get a call from Cooper Hospital, telling us that our son had met with an accident,” said Ranjan Wilson K, his father. While boarding the train, commuters accidentally pushed Rohan, and he fell into the gap between the train and platform.

“When we arrived at the hospital, I couldn’t even recognise my own son. He was covered in blood. We had to shift him to Lilavati Hospital, as Cooper Hospital did not even have bandages to place on his injuries,” the father added.

A good Samaritan, Rahaman Qurashe, rushed him to the hospital in an auto-rickshaw, along with his cut arm.Unfortunately, it could not be salvaged. “We had put his arm in a box filled with ice. Although it was re-attached at the Bandra hospital, it had to be amputated five days later, as he started to develop gangrene,” said his father.

Other than an amputated arm, Rohan fractured his left arm and sustained severe injuries to the right knee. He had to undergo three surgeries.