Ailing but aiding

K.S. Jayamohan did not let illnesses stop him from helping those in need By Nirmal Jovial

- Nirmal Jovial

Nearly 40,000 eye surgeries, 352 heart surgeries, treatment for 1,780 cancer patients, 42 kidney transplants, 12 liver transplants and 682 cleft lip and palate surgeries. The numbers are staggering, but they represent more than just medical procedures—they are about the lives transformed by K.S. Jayamohan. Yet, the 66-year-old social worker from Kannur insists that his life's work is merely a way of repaying the second chance he was given.

Born to Sukumaran, a schoolteacher, and Kamalamma in Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram in 1959, Jayamohan was struck by acute rheumatic fever when he was 10. Acute rheumatic fever is a rare immune response that can attack multiple organ systems. In Jayamohan's case, it left his legs paralysed, confining him to bed for two years.

By August 1971, Jayamohan defied the odds and began walking again. But his battle was far from over. A weakened immune system left him vulnerable, and he contracted osteomyelitis—a severe bone infection that, if untreated, leads to permanent bone loss and tissue death. Over the next 10 years, he endured 28 surgeries, each one a painful attempt to fight the chronic osteomyelitis. Even though Jayamohan had to spend most of his teenage years in pain, he managed to study well. In 1974, he won multiple scholarships, including the National Merit Scholarship, and became the sole representative of Kerala in the National Science Meet for schoolchildren. There, he met then prime minister Indira Gandhi. All this while battling osteomyelitis, which recurred every few months and pushed him back to “being bedridden over and over again”.