It’s candles, cake and halwa for 83-yr-old who beat Covid-19

Super senior citizen Hasmukh Soni celebrates birthday with staff in hospital after 12 days of fighting the virus; returns home to have halwa with wife

When 82-year-old Hasmukh Soni was brought to a private hospital with Covid-19 infection, his comorbid condition, severe breathlessness along with his advancing age had posed major challenges for the team of doctors. However, 'dada' as he was lovingly called by the staff at the hospital overcame all the challenges to beat the contagion and return home.

After his fight for 12 days, Tuesday called for a double celebration for dada as he had overcome Covid-19 and also stepped into his 83rd year. He was excited to meet his wife Premila (79) on the special day and have halwa with her for dinner.

His energy and zeal had infused the Saviour Hospital near Income-tax with positivity. The staff not only made sure dada had a special lunch with them, but also made him blow candles and cut a chocolate cake to celebrate his birthday.

Hasmukhbhai and his wife live in Maninagar, while their sons and grandsons are settled in the US. He was admitted to the hospital on May 18 after testing positive for Covid-19. Suffering from severe breathlessness, he had to be admitted to the ICU.

"My neighbour took me to a hospital on SG Highway after I complained of weakness. My test report for Covid-19 was positive and I don't even remember when I was shifted to this hospital. The staff took special care and I felt at home here," he told Mirror.

Ask if he was scared to learn that he had contracted coronavirus, he said, "I am living bonus years of my life. But I am happy to go back home as I will meet my wife after 12 days. I wanted to have lunch with her on my birthday, but the staff here insisted I have lunch with them. Now, I will go home and have halva with my wife in celebration," he said.

Hasmukhbhai's elder son Chetan, who is a microbiologist and works with a Covid-19 team in New Jersey, was in touch with the doctors treating his father through a WhatsApp group and shared inputs of new treatment they had adopted. "The challenges were there. But constant communication with family members on the group and inputs from doctors in NJ helped us treat Hasmukhbhai," said Dr Dhruv Shah, director of the hospital, who is also a pulmonologist.

After Hasmukhbhai tested negative for Covid-19 he was discharged from the hospital, Dr Shah said.

Devang Shah, resident of Sumukh Apartment in Maninagar, who is Hasmukhbhai's neighbour and took him to hospital, said that it was his moral duty to help him. "I have lived in an apartment opposite his house for 11 years. When he told me that he was feeling weak, I and four other residents of the apartment took him to hospital," Shah said.

After dada tested positive, the entire floor of the apartment went into home quarantine. "Other residents of the apartment and my younger brother provided us and Premilaben with essentials like milk and groceries," he said.

Dada's safe return was a homecoming of sorts of a patriarch for residents of Sumukh Apartment.