BATTLE WON AGAINST BRAIN STROKE Behind every strong person is a story that gives them two choices: SINK or SWIM!

Sharath Srinivasan a Brain Stroke survivor chose to SWIM. This story is about him experiencing the days and minutes of his life after the stroke, and how he stayed strong to stay far away from falling off the cliff of death.

Sharath was blessed to have humble beginnings in a nuclear family with both parents and a sister. He was an active student both in his school and college days and participated in all extracurricular activities. He wrote his GMRIT and got selected for Polaris. Later he wrote his GMAT and completed his MBA in London and also completed certification of SAP FICO. He joined Infosys in the year 2014. Within 6 months of joining, he got promoted and this added fuel to his workaholism. He felt a compulsive need to work excessively and worked for 14 to 16 hours just to prove his worth. On the 12th of July 2015, Sharath’s struggle began.

On 12 July 2015, Sharath reached Mumbai from Hyderabad and was giving a presentation to the client, during which he started feeling a little uneasy and asked his colleague to continue. He tried to sit down and he realized that he was almost losing his muscle control. He fell on his colleague and people around gathered and took him to the nearest first aid center where his BP had shot to 190/110. Within 12 min he was taken to Fortis hospital, Vashi Mumbai. An MRI and CT scan revealed that he had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, brain damage caused by a rupture of a blood vessel that leads to bleeding in the brain.
Sharath was given anesthesia and it took five hours for him to regain consciousness.
When he woke up from the trauma, he could not speak, his vision was blurred, he could not sit, stand or walk, no bladder or bowel control, and the right side of his body was paralyzed. His emotions were the lowest, he felt desolate, despondent, sad, and stuck. The feelings of hopelessness and despair made him feel that there was no point in living and he cried inconsolably.

So what was it that helped him reverse these feelings and overcome the challenges that life threw at him? He says it was the support and motivation that came from his parents. The success stories of Arunima Sinha (the first female amputee to climb mount Everest) and the comeback stories of Yuvraj Singh greatly inspired him to hit back to life. From Yuvraj Singh, the power of gratitude, from Arunima the power of determination to fight against all odds and make a mark for oneself. Thirdly it was the practice of vipassana, which helped him walk the path of self-transformation.

Let’s talk about his jaw-dropping determination and his incredible achievements in the face of obstacles. Sharath was endowed with a special spirit and he decided to not let anything take him away from what he loved – HIS WORK. He gave himself 6 months to bounce back to a state where he could resume work.
He started setting reasonable and incremental goals that not only helped him create progress in his condition but also boosted his confidence which resulted in decreasing the intensity of his hopelessness. He slowly began taking on daily tasks – bathing, sitting, eating with his left hand, and started learning basic alphabets and numbers. He was a right-handed person and imagine at age of 28 learned to be left-handed. Even though our brain is an amazing organ that changes to promote recovery of functions after a stroke, it is absolutely hard work that takes a lot of repetition to rewire the brain. Sharath remained strong, he kept targets in everything, whether it was dressing up, traveling, playing, eating by himself, his physio sessions, yoga classes, speech therapy, etc. he started celebrating his small success and realized that he was getting more and more reasons to celebrate life with each passing day. He never forgot to be grateful for the little feats and this positively correlated to more vitality, energy, and enthusiasm to keep him moving in life.
What helped him and is still helping him get great results are, MRM, Yoga, Vipassana, NLP, ICE, accelerated Mindset, and Mental wellness techniques.

He proved the quote, “Tiny tweaks lead to big changes” by Amy Cuddy.
He demonstrated that a positive mindset can do wonders.
He authenticated that loving oneself is the most important gift you can give to yourself.
He substantiated the benefits and power of meditation, yoga, and affirmations.
He expressed gratitude not by uttering words but by living by them.
He showed strength by not surrendering to his hardships.

Sharath ran the 5k Marathon in 2018
He got promoted to principal Consultant in the year 2019
In 2022 he acquired a certification in NLP and became a Super Coach.
In the same year, he penned a book, “DARE TO DREAM’ which is available on Amazon and Flipkart.

Unlike many stroke survivors, Sharath has made an almost full recovery, with no lasting physical or mental damage. He credits the timely diagnosis and care he received at the hospital. Major credit to his family, his parents who were always there to motivate and encourage him to overcome all difficulties during his journey to recovery.


We wish Sharath all the best along each step of his journey!

“Go after your dreams Sharath – May you get all the success and happiness you deserve!”

Autism does not come with a manual, it comes with an adult who Never Gives Up!

A newborn baby is like a miracle of perfection, a bundle of joy, that overwhelms us with love, and gives us a feeling that we have met our reason to live. Our baby like other babies is born with 10 fingers and 10 toes, cries when hungry, and sleeps regularly. Grows from an infant to a toddler, learns to speak, learns the alphabet, learns to hold the spoon, sits, walks, crawls, smiles when you smile, imitates you, hugs you, and so on and so forth, and these behaviors continue to stay for 2 or 3 years. 

However, one out of every fifty, what happens?  

You notice the child exhibiting unusual behaviors, like not responding to his name, stops smiling, stops interacting, avoids eye contact, repeats words or phrases over and over, getting easily disturbed by some lights, sound, or touch, being emotionally detached, gets rigid with routines, and many many more such irregular behaviors. You see a bubble start growing around him and you find that the child is slowly creeping into a shell. You are shattered, heartbroken, vulnerable, and baffled. It isn’t easy to see that someone you love is having a serious developmental condition. You immediately consult your primary caregiver or your pediatrician. After a couple of rounds with doctors and experts, the baby is diagnosed with autism, a condition maybe you have never heard of before. 

This could leave you with a question, “Why Me and Why my Baby”?

A similar story happened with Mrs. Fatima sheikh from Mumbai. Her son Usaid was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of three and a half years. It was her first encounter with the reality of accepting the fact that her child has autism. It was very hard for the parents to realize that their child is having a lifelong condition that is going to limit his socialization and also his ability to succeed in life.

But then what helped them was to not look at it as a PROBLEM but as a SITUATION. When you start seeing problems as situations, you start thinking in terms of possibilities. It then becomes easy to find a solution to every situation that comes up in life.

Mrs. Fatima Sheikh did exactly that, she took hold of the situation, and to give her 100%, she decided to quit her career immediately. She took the steering wheel in her hands and was all set to help Usaid live with his challenge and come to par with the world. She started to learn from therapists and professionals, and she started exploring, understanding and reading.

She never burdened her autistic son with any aspirations for him. She would set a distant goal but never looked beyond the next milestone. With total belief in his competency, she always allowed him to take the lead in whatever he loved doing and was happy with it, be it music, performing arts, or visual arts. She says that she got full support from her husband, friends, and her close family, and this collective effort and support from close family and friends made life easier for them. Relatives who were nasty about Usiads diagnosis were kept away from Usaid. 

To help him grow and develop, they tried all programs and supports, including speech therapy, occupational therapy, music, swimming, drumming, dance, and even lots of outdoor and sports activities.  Usaid was exposed to every opportunity, and if they found him interested in any activity, the mother would immediately knock door to find a suitable mentor to train him for it. 

After a lot of experimenting, they decided to specifically work on his strengths and weaknesses. His special interest in arts was detected when at the age of 4, Usaid faced difficulty communicating with words and he instead communicated with them by drawing and sketching in stick figures of what happened in school, at home, and on outings. So they started using art to communicate with him and entered his world. Gradually Usaid started responding, opening up, and started connecting with them. 

Usaid showed a love for music and they hired a good music teacher. This de-stressed Usaid and increased his sitting tolerance and focus. 

When his passion for dance got noticed, he got all the training required for it. Usaid performed on stage for Shiamak Davar’s winter funk in 2016 and that was transformational for Usaid, a big leap in his self-confidence. They saw him as a completely changed person who came alive on stage, and the overload of light, sound, and chaos did not bother him at all. Dancing improved his resilience, self-regulation, planning, and executive functions. He happily traveled long distances for practice, for shows, and on stage, like any other normal person, he  knew his entry, exit, and his position, and moreover took cues from his group and remained totally coordinated with them. Every show is a new exposure and experience for him!

A few of the proud moments for Usaids parents are:

When he scored a 91% in his 10th board, and it was covered in the Times of India. 

When he was appointed as a junior editor for Mccann world group in Mumbai, after 6 months of internship with them. 

When he gave a presentation at Stanford neurodiversity Summit in 2021 on his experience at the workplace. 

A proud student of the Shiamak Davar Dance Company.

Amazing, isn’t it? Even a normal child sometimes fails to get so many achievements in life. Credit goes to the parents who walked their son to success with Love and Patience. 

Mrs Fatima sheikh says that if we wish to connect with an autistic child, enter into the bubble formed around him, and when he is ready help bring him out into this world. She says, give your autistic child an opportunity to prove himself by believing in him, by accepting him with his neurodiversity. 

So next time when we see a person with a difference, we should not forget that he may have difficulty expressing himself, but he has the same emotions and aspirations as all of us.  Let us all pledge to accept them with their specialties with open arms, and help them live their life with dignity and confidence.

For

MARHAM INDIA

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