Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: IBNLive.com
Date: August 7, 2011
URL: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/itbp-constables-son-beats-cancer-top-his-class/173779-3.html
An ITBP constable's son is earning laurels
and has become the cynosure of all eyes as he defeated odds like a growing
bone cancer and the absence of his father posted at far flung China border
to top in his class X examination with distinction.
15-year-old Shakti Singh had a very painful
and disturbed last year after he was detected with cancer of the bones and
had to undertake regular chemotherapy sessions at the All India Institute
of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Shakti's father, Mahendra Singh Rathore, was
till recently posted at the ITBP forward area in Himachal Pradesh to guard
the Sino-Indian frontier and has now been allowed a posting in the national
capital to monitor his son's treatment.
Shakti topped his class X exam with 88 per
cent marks and travels regularly from Churu in Rajasthan to Delhi to undertake
his painful chemotherapy sessions and medical consultations.
"Shakti along with his younger sister
and mother has to travel from Churu to Delhi on many occasions. He was earlier
admitted to the Sawai Man Singh hospital in Jaipur but the need for advanced
treatment brought us to Delhi," Shakti's father Mahendra told on Sunday
after his son was awarded by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police for being extraordinary.
"I bring Shakti to such functions as
this encourages him to fight and feel happy in spite of all odds. After medical
treatment, it is only encouragement that will keep him going," a teary-eyed
Singh said.
Shakti will undergo a surgery at AIIMS in
September to remove the cancerous tissues from his legs but such painful instances
have not deterred him from hoping for the best.
"My family and I thought for a while
about the problems that cancer would bring. But then I chose to look forward
despite the fact that there may not be much for me to look forward to,"
Shakti said after he received a memento from Sadhna Bhatia, wife of ITBP chief
RK Bhatia in recognition of his achievement.
"He is an extraordinary child. We wish
we could see his laurels and feats all our life," said a senior ITBP
officer who had come to the function at the forces' campus like many others
on a Sunday, just to cheer Shakti.
