By Rohit – a young volunteer at Karunashraya

Sunil was a cheerful young boy in his early teens with a gleeful twinkle of zest for life in his eyes. Beneath the youthfully exuberant exterior, however, was an extraordinary person with a tremendous conviction and a generous spirit to serve society. Like all teenagers he, too, dreamt of making it big one day and provide a comfortable life to his family whom he loved so dearly.

But destiny had other plans for him. In November 2007, he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells characterized by excess lymphoblasts. He was only 16 years old then. He knew that his life and dreams had been hijacked but was determined to fight it out till the very end.  As a result Sunil was admitted to Karunashraya in December 2007 but was discharged within a week as the doctors felt that he would benefit from some more curative medical treatment. He underwent therapy at the local cancer hospital, Kidwai, for almost a year.  Inspite of his ailment, he was very keen to clear his SSLC exams. He did that successfully during his illness and passed the exams with flying colors. His condition had gradually deteriorated over the months and finally in the last stages he was brought back to Karunashraya again in January 2009, a place he liked so much because of the love and care he had received during his previous stay.

Sunil's mother accompanied him to Karunashraya this time. She had been working as a house-help but had to quit because of her son's ailment. Sunil's father, an alcoholic, had deserted the family two years ago. He did not want to bear the expenses of Sunil's treatment and hence left the family all on their own. Sunil also has a younger sister who is in Higher Secondary school and stays in a rented accommodation at Ramanagaram, close to Bangalore, along with her grandmother. The family has been finding it very difficult to make both ends meet. The rent at their Ramanagaram home has not been paid for six months now and there are hardly any reserves to buy food for their daily needs. Sunil was aware of all this but would always try and boost his mother's spirits. "He was always at peace and didn't complain even once about his ailment or condition", remarks his mother.

Right from his childhood, Sunil had been a die-hard fan of Aamir Khan. So, on Jan. 31st, 2009, when Aamir visited Karunashraya and met him, he was absolutely flabbergasted. The moment he saw Aamir Khan, his eyes lit up. Inspite of his excruciating pain & fatigue, Sunil just kept chatting with his reel-life hero. He was just too happy to meet Aamir. The subsequent day Sunil passed away at 11.45 a.m.

Sunil always seemed preternaturally calm, and incredibly accepting of the fact that his life was going to be far shorter than any of his peers. He displayed what could be called the "It is what it is" approach to deal with cancer. There was a sort of wistfulness about him – not sadness, necessarily, but a detached, philosophical acceptance of the inevitable. Probably, he, sometime, would have raged against the news of his own death, or denied it – but, if he ever was in such a denial mode, he seemed to have transcended it now. He had progressed far beyond those stages of the dying process.

All of us at Karunashraya, found Sunil's demeanor extremely calming and beautiful. It was a sad ending, for sure, but there's something very unusual, very powerful about the way this teenager faced the reality of his own death and showed all of us how to accept our own mortality with such equanimity. We were all devastated on the day he left us for his final abode but it was also extremely soothing to have known such a wonderful soul, an angel who would stay young in our memories forever.