In September 2017, Lt Col Amar Dehal of Rashtriya Rifles was shot twice during a terrorist attack in Kashmir's Shopian district. One bullet hit him in the head-it went in through the right lobe and got lodged in the left; the other scraped through his abdomen. A physically fit, tall and broad-chested Dehal was suddenly bed-ridden and on life support. The entry wound in his skull was closed with an acrylic plate, but the left side remained pulpy to the touch. For eight months, the camera-friendly, guitar-loving 35-year-old was in a coma. Once he was out of it, he was wheelchair-bound, unable to perform the most basic tasks.
This November 1, at the neurorehabilitation department of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital in Mumbai, a cheerful Dehal, assisted by a robot, walked for the very first time in five years. It was "as if he was a baby who was just discovering the pleasures of stretching his legs and learning how to walk from the very beginning," says his wife Sheela, also a lieutenant colonel. She is on a long hiatus to be with her husband.
Dehal was seen moving his lower limbs to and fro on a Locomat-a moving mat similar to an automated treadmill-wherein a robotic exoskeleton provides guidance and bodyweight support to facilitate intensive walking training and physiological gait rehabilitation for severely impaired neurological patients. For the next 10 days thereafter, he walked close to 7,000 steps. Egging him on was a video game-enabled screen that rewarded him with jackpots on achieving his milestones.
This story is from the November 27, 2022 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 27, 2022 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
BIOPIC AND BEYOND
Randeep Hooda may have proved his acting credentials with biopics, but typecast him at your own peril
Flutter of flimsy wings
Butterfly Research Centre in Bhimtal boasts 3,500 butterfly and moth specimens
SIMILAR STATES, DIFFERENT BATTLES
The Congress seems to have the edge in Telangana while in Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy are locked in a bitter battle
A RIDE TO REMEMBER
On board Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s bus as he was attacked
Winning 14 of 17 seats is my target
Anumula Revanth Reddy is on a mission to demonstrate a democratic and egalitarian facet of power and leadership.
LOTUS TAKES ROOT
Buoyed by its slowly growing acceptance among the voters in Tamil Nadu, the BJP is mounting its fiercest offensive ever
BLANK CHECK
Several factors favour an increase in the BJP’s vote share in Kerala, but whether the party can win a seat remains uncertain
CONGRESS HAS A HISTORY OF MAKING ADJUSTMENTS WITH COMMUNAL FORCES
In April 2021, as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was leading the CPI(M)’s assembly poll campaign to win a second consecutive term, a spirited debate erupted in Kerala over an epithet that party workers had bestowed on him.
POLL PLOT
Congress hopes its five guarantees’ will blunt BJP’s aggressive push
MODI'S GUARANTEES REMAIN IN SPEECHES, MY GUARANTEES ARE FULFILLED
The transformation is unmissable. The old-school mass leader Siddaramaiah has suddenly switched into the new avatar of a master strategist.