MUMBAI: Sham Soma Solanki is short but his list of ailments is excruciatingly long.
From the humble hernia to the mind-numbing cancer, from long-standing diabetes to a crippling stroke, this mukadam from the Thane Municipal Corporation has suffered 20 various diseases in his 47 years of life, says his family as well as his doctors. In fact, his doctors have sent his medical papers to the Guinness World Records for consideration.
Solanki was discharged from Jupiter Hospital in Thane last week after recovering from his latest health emergency, a heart attack that was followed by a high-risk bypass surgery.
Considering that he suffers from congestive heart failure (last year, doctors drained out five litres of liquid from his lungs) and two of his ribs were removed after they got gangrene, Solanki's heart was indeed a difficult one to operate, cardiac surgeon Dr Jayesh Dhareshwar, who was among the 10-member team treating Solanki, said. "His lung condition was so bad that four hospitals refused to operate on him. His heart's pumping action too was barely 25," cardiologist Dr Vijay Surase from the same hospital said.
Solanki smilingly says that his family — wife Sujata is a Shiv Sena corporator and two sons — were convinced that this was the last stop. "We had approached many doctors who said that, given my poor heart condition, I wouldn't make it beyond the operation table. We are ecstatic that I managed," says Solanki, who has a story to relate for most of the cuts and stitches on the various parts of his body.
Dr Surase said, "We have performed various immunology tests on Solanki but he doesn't seem to have any one particular condition that seems to have contributed to these 20 diseases." The count of 20 also includes bouts of malaria, dengue and typhiod that the patient has suffered.
He has, in fact, sent Solanki's case study along with his health reports to the Guinness World Records in London. The 40-day scrutiny may or may not earn Solanki the unhealthy distinction of having suffered from the maximum number of diseases but doctors are convinced that he is among the rarest of patients. "Each disease is mutually exclusive of the other," Dr Surase added.
"The last seven years have been terrible. Every few months, there has been a new health problem," says Solanki, who has been in and out of various hospitals in this period. His problem actually began 15 years back when he discovered that he had diabetes. "I had only had a hernia operation before that."
In 2003, he discovered he had cancer, which was quickly followed by a stroke that paralysed his right side. "If not for my wife and elder son, who kept nudging me to carry on, I wouldn't have managed," he said. "When doctors discovered my cancer, Hodgkin's Lymphoma (lymph node cancer), my friends told me that I should make merry till I am alive. Their advice was to smoke unlimited and drink unlimited," he says.
Not surprisingly then, Solanki used to smoke 10 cigarettes a day till his heart attack on May 28 this year. But he now promises to reform. "Given my son's dedication to ensure that I stay healthy, I will take care of myself now," he says.
In 2004, doctors found TB meningitis that was followed by an attack of gangrene in his left arm. "One of the scariest moments was in 2006," Solanki admits, "when doctors discovered an abscess in my hip." He was advised an amputation as the muscles were nectorised (dead). "It took an year of daily cleaning up to save my leg," says Solanki, showing off the four-clover mark on his buttock. Then, a mass was discovered on his windpipe that temporarily robbed him of his voice even as his kidney suddenly failed in 2008.
Last year, gangrene developed on two of his rib bones, needing them to be removed. Then came the discovery of heart failure and asthma before the heart attack on May 28. A senior doctor from a south Mumbai hospital, however, feels that Solanki's plight is the combination of compromised immunology and a bad lifestyle.
"He must surely have some predisposing factors such as alcohol or smoking and some genetic predisposition that must have led to such multiple condition," the doctor said.
From the humble hernia to the mind-numbing cancer, from long-standing diabetes to a crippling stroke, this mukadam from the Thane Municipal Corporation has suffered 20 various diseases in his 47 years of life, says his family as well as his doctors. In fact, his doctors have sent his medical papers to the Guinness World Records for consideration.
Solanki was discharged from Jupiter Hospital in Thane last week after recovering from his latest health emergency, a heart attack that was followed by a high-risk bypass surgery.
Considering that he suffers from congestive heart failure (last year, doctors drained out five litres of liquid from his lungs) and two of his ribs were removed after they got gangrene, Solanki's heart was indeed a difficult one to operate, cardiac surgeon Dr Jayesh Dhareshwar, who was among the 10-member team treating Solanki, said. "His lung condition was so bad that four hospitals refused to operate on him. His heart's pumping action too was barely 25," cardiologist Dr Vijay Surase from the same hospital said.
Solanki smilingly says that his family — wife Sujata is a Shiv Sena corporator and two sons — were convinced that this was the last stop. "We had approached many doctors who said that, given my poor heart condition, I wouldn't make it beyond the operation table. We are ecstatic that I managed," says Solanki, who has a story to relate for most of the cuts and stitches on the various parts of his body.
Dr Surase said, "We have performed various immunology tests on Solanki but he doesn't seem to have any one particular condition that seems to have contributed to these 20 diseases." The count of 20 also includes bouts of malaria, dengue and typhiod that the patient has suffered.
He has, in fact, sent Solanki's case study along with his health reports to the Guinness World Records in London. The 40-day scrutiny may or may not earn Solanki the unhealthy distinction of having suffered from the maximum number of diseases but doctors are convinced that he is among the rarest of patients. "Each disease is mutually exclusive of the other," Dr Surase added.
"The last seven years have been terrible. Every few months, there has been a new health problem," says Solanki, who has been in and out of various hospitals in this period. His problem actually began 15 years back when he discovered that he had diabetes. "I had only had a hernia operation before that."
In 2003, he discovered he had cancer, which was quickly followed by a stroke that paralysed his right side. "If not for my wife and elder son, who kept nudging me to carry on, I wouldn't have managed," he said. "When doctors discovered my cancer, Hodgkin's Lymphoma (lymph node cancer), my friends told me that I should make merry till I am alive. Their advice was to smoke unlimited and drink unlimited," he says.
Not surprisingly then, Solanki used to smoke 10 cigarettes a day till his heart attack on May 28 this year. But he now promises to reform. "Given my son's dedication to ensure that I stay healthy, I will take care of myself now," he says.
In 2004, doctors found TB meningitis that was followed by an attack of gangrene in his left arm. "One of the scariest moments was in 2006," Solanki admits, "when doctors discovered an abscess in my hip." He was advised an amputation as the muscles were nectorised (dead). "It took an year of daily cleaning up to save my leg," says Solanki, showing off the four-clover mark on his buttock. Then, a mass was discovered on his windpipe that temporarily robbed him of his voice even as his kidney suddenly failed in 2008.
Last year, gangrene developed on two of his rib bones, needing them to be removed. Then came the discovery of heart failure and asthma before the heart attack on May 28. A senior doctor from a south Mumbai hospital, however, feels that Solanki's plight is the combination of compromised immunology and a bad lifestyle.
"He must surely have some predisposing factors such as alcohol or smoking and some genetic predisposition that must have led to such multiple condition," the doctor said.
