GUWAHATI, Jul 10: Success doesn’t come easy. Sometimes you have to fight tough to stay on track. You will have to battle the things beyond your control and encounter circumstances you couldn’t have predicted.
Such is a story of ALLEN Student Riturima Baidya. Her younger sister Madurima is suffering from cancer since she was 15 years old. In such circumstances, Riturima worked hard and gave the class 10th examination. A resident of Udaipur village (Tripura), Riturima joined ALLEN Career Institute for the preparation of NEET. She gave NEET examination along with class 12th and secured All India Rank 1274 and 319 Rank in OBC category.
Father Khokan Chandra Baidya has a small shop and mother Ratna Dutta is a housewife. Riturima said her childhood dream was to become a doctor. After completing MBBS she wanted to specialize in cancer and become an oncologist so that she could help the patients suffering from cancer. She also wanted to become an IAS. “I want to give back to society, as during my sister's illness we got a lot of support,” she said.
Riturima said that she was in class 10th and her sister Madhurima was in class 9 when she felt some weakness. After a day or two, there was a lot of swelling on her face and it turned out to be cancer. It was a Non-Hodgkin lymphoma PMBCL (primary medicinal large B-cell lymphoma) cancer. It is cancer which attacks cells which fights infection in the immune system. The doctors suggested to take her to Mumbai for better treatment. So her mother and uncle took her to Mumbai. Riturima stayed back home along with her father. Cancer was between heart and lungs so the operation was not possible. Treatment started with medication and chemotherapy. After nearly eight months of treatment, she returned home. There was a little improvement in her health. A month later, during a checkup in Mumbai, it was found that cancer is spreading and lungs are also tightened.
Riturima told that during the preparation in ALLEN. She attended many motivational sessions, which made her strong and stay motivated. Even in Yoga sessions, she learned to stay calm and positive.
Riturima secured 10 CGPA in class 10th and took admission in ALLEN Career Institute for the preparation of NEET. However, due to sister's illness, she was also disturbed. After two months, it was discovered that cancer has spread and her sister needed a Bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow makes blood cells in the body. Her father's and mother's Bone marrow did not match her sister's. But Riturima's Bone marrow matched, so she had to go to Mumbai for a transplant. She stayed there for three weeks.
“Bone marrow transplant had an expenditure of up to Rs 20 lakh. The family approached many institutes for help. They also got support from ALLEN, the faculties collectively handed over 4 lacs to the family. I got concession in Coaching and hostel fees. I was not able to attend the classes regularly due to my visits to Mumbai. ALLEN faculties supported me to cope up with the syllabus and cleared my doubts,” said Rituruima.