Just off ventilator, gritty teen turns up for boards

Chandigarh: Thirteen days. That's how long 17-year-old Kanishka Bist was on a ventilator in an intensive care unit, as machines breathed for her and doctors kept constant watch. On Friday, wheeled in on a stretcher, still hooked to an oxygen cylinder, she wrote her Class 12 board exam. No writer. Just Kanishka and her courage.

A student of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa Senior Secondary School in Sector 26, Chandigarh, Kanishka has been living with muscular dystrophy since birth. The degenerative condition has long made everyday tasks demanding, but the past few weeks tested her endurance like never before. Her latest illness began with a deceptive cough and cold.She was very clear she didn't want to miss exam: Father

Her father, Prem Singh Bist, a businessman from Zirakpur, near Chandigarh, said the medical emergency began with what seemed like routine illness. "She started getting a cough and cold on Jan 30 but her health worsened rapidly," he said.

On Feb 2, she was admitted to a hospital in Panchkula. As complications mounted, she was referred to Govt Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh. Soon, she was moved to the ICU and put on ventilator support.

"She was on a ventilator for 13 days. For nearly 10 days, she did not have proper consciousness (sic)," Kanishka's father said.

For most, the focus would be solely on recovery. For Kanishka, another date loomed large - her first CBSE paper, physics.

"On Thursday evening, she told us she wanted to give her board exam on Friday," the father noted.

The family rushed to coordinate with school authorities and the examination centre, a govt school in Manimajra, around 10km away. Given her medical condition, the Central Board of Secondary Education granted her an extra hour. "During her Class 10 boards as well, we had taken an hour extra from CBSE because of her health issues," he said.

Kanishka chose to write the paper herself. "Since it all happened at the last moment, we could not secure permission for a scribe from CBSE," her father adding her determination stunned him.

With four more examinations to go, Kanishka now balances recovery with preparation. Her elder brother and family remain constant sources of support. "Doctors are positive that she will improve further," Bist said adding, "After what she has shown us, we believe she will."
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