A boy called Arun

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”

This is what comes to my mind when I think of Arun, the 16-year-old with a die-hard optimism about life that would put most of us to shame.

He could have been any other teenage boy, with a head bursting with ideas and a heart filled with dreams, but for the fact that he suffers from blood cancer.

I first came to know of him through my friend, Bindu, who runs Aroh, a Coimbatore-based charitable trust which works towards the welfare of children afflicted with cancer.

Arun is a brilliant boy with an unbeatable zest for life. Adverse financial and family circumstances, or his life-threatening disease, never succeeded in defeating the enthusiasm of this youngster as he struggled with his illness and education, while also holding down a part-time job to help his aged grandmother and sister, with whom he lives.

I will not mention the long list of misfortunes that have gripped him since his birth, because here is a child who never allowed any of it to bother him. All I will say is that many of us may not have survived such ordeals in life.

Aroh funded his treatment and education, and its dedicated volunteers very often played the role of mentors to this enthusiastic boy. I was fortunate enough to facilitate a small part of his educational requirements through some of my Facebook friends, who donated funds to this cause. I always pray that he recovers from his illness and lives a normal life.

It was touching to see Bindu write about Arun yesterday on the Facebook page of Aroh. Here is what she had to say:

“We have seen a lot of children in the past two years and we have lost quite a few also. Everyone is special and everyone has touched us, but some more than others.

Arun has been special from the beginning… highly intelligent, smart, witty and extremely affectionate. Volunteers make sure that they read the newspaper before they go visit him because he invariably talks about current affairs.

It always brings a smile to us to see him surrounded by pretty nursing students. He entertains us by telling stories about his girlfriends, imaginary and real.

He complains if we don't hug him or hold his hands. At 16, he is writing his autobiography! Life has given him enough to fill a book.

When his blood cancer came back, he never complained or asked, ‘Why me?’ But he asked us about how it was going to end, how much time he had left. He talked to the doctor also. And he chose to write his Std IX exam over chemo.

His condition has worsened since then and he is back in the hospital today.

So we were there in the morning and he could hardly speak. His voice has become very feeble and he is in considerable pain.

Then he asks me to bend my head and he says, when it's all over, he wants to donate his organs! He says he will fill up the forms, turn his Patti (grandmother) around to agree, but I should promise him that when it happens, Patti, in her grief, shouldn't forget!

I am speechless…”

I am also speechless, Bindu… and in tears.

We have a lot to learn from this young boy.

All I can do is pray that Arun survives this illness and comes out of it to lead a life of his dreams.

God bless you, son.