The teenager suffers from spastic diplegia, also known as Little’s Disease, a form of cerebral palsy that permanently affects muscle control and coordination.
Even as most city schools celebrated the achievement of their toppers in the CBSE Class X examination, authorities of the Army Public School, Kirkee, had a different victory to celebrate. It was a victory against adverse circumstances, fought by one of their students, Omkar Dhamane, who lost his father only a fortnight before the board exams.
That wasn’t the only adversity faced by Omkar. The teenager suffers from spastic diplegia, also known as Little’s Disease, a form of cerebral palsy that permanently affects muscle control and coordination. Omkar has extremely limited movement in his legs because of the condition and needs support to walk. It was his father who supported him, and helped him reach the exam centres. “I missed him a lot when I was going to write my exams… this time, my friends took me,” he said.
Omkar’s father, Vijay, was a havaldar in the Army. “He had a blockage in his nerve and was under treatment for many years. In November last year, his condition worsened and he had to be hospitalised. He was in the hospital for three months before he passed away. During those months, all we did was shuttle between home and the hospital. I studied only when I managed to find some time…,” he said.
Omkar’s father passed away on February 16 and barely two weeks later, on March 5, Omkar wrote the first paper of the Class X board exam, with almost no preparation. He still managed to score 72.8 per cent.
Omkar is currently in Bhavnagar, recuperating after undergoing a surgery a week ago to relieve the stiffness in his fingers. He said he was happy as he had scored the maximum marks in his favourite subject, Information Technology, and it had brought him a step closer to his dream of becoming a software engineer.