“BRAIN TUMOUR, MARATHON AND MYSELF.”
Hey everyone,
I am BALA MURALI, 44 and from PERIYAKRISHNAPURAM in Salem district. I am
into Computer Graphics and Printing business and my wife is a Govt. employee
and we are blessed with two sons. I wanted to pen my thoughts and the reasons
why I wanted to do this are:
Though I was interested in sports when I was in school, all
I remember was playing kho-kho and kabaddi with my friends for a while in the
evening, as I was spoon fed, like anyone else, to concentrate only on studies.
So when I was in college and wanted to do something, I joined NCC, and seeing
my performance, eventually I became CSUO (Cadets Senior Under Officer), led 200
NCC cadets, and underwent training which was considered to be almost 40% of
military training at that time. But that was it, after NCC, life caught up with
me: got into business, wedded my wife and became a family man with fatherly
responsibilities on my shoulders.
When tumour became a part of my life...
I am no exception for the plan structured by the universe
for any ordinary person in this planet. Not even an year into marriage, when I
was 30, fate caught up with me. The medical advise by the local doctors for
occasional headaches led to deteriorating of hearing in right ear, whereas I
thought it could be due to sinus or eye
related issues. There were many days when, while doing power walks, it
felt like drum-roll in my head. But, I have always known that there’s something
wrong with my body.
And then came a day, when I just couldn’t bear the headache,
double vision, and I was unable to stand (right hand and right leg refused to
obey my brain’s commands). Painkilling medicines made me to come back to the
normal state within few hours. My friends’ and family’s concerns feared me to
look into this issue. So, consulted a specialist in Coimbatore. On hearing my
issues, he advised me to take a MRI scan right away. On seeing the results, he
cancelled next day’s appointment and called my brother-in-law to come in to
discuss my condition that night itself.
My brother-in-law came out with tears and told me to get an
injection right away and we can talk the rest on the way back home. So, I
thought it was pain killer injection and got done with it and we started back
home, not knowing what is waiting for me. My heart skipped a beat when I
finally saw the scan in our car. There was an apple sized void in the scanned
copy. When I asked him ‘why isn’t there anything in this area?’, he said that
was my problem, Acoustic Neurofibroma- a tumour in my brain, inside the skull.
Formed very small, has grown to the right earlobe’s nerve and pressurising the
brain affects the functioning of few organs under brain’s control (hence
causing headache and other issues). Not knowing the type of cyst, one thing was
clear, ie any kind of pressure would lead to the breakage of the tumour
(pressure as small as trying hard to excrete the digested food). And, if the cyst breaks, that’s the end of my
life. So, the doctor suggested me to get admitted in the infamous hospital in
Vellore.
I thought that was the end of me. The fear of leaving my
wife alone with a baby coming in such a
young age started haunting me. The thought of leaving her alone in this world
made me, the person who doesn’t encourage anyone to cry, cry. If I am no more,
my parents would have my brother as a son, but I could not even think of the
situation my wife would be in. Thanks to my friends and family who gave a
shoulder to cry on for my parents, brother and wife before I reached home. So
by the time, I reached home, they were all thinking about what the next step
should be. With the advise of few friends, we decided to go to Manipal hospital
in Bangalore.
Since the surgery could go either way, we decided to go with
the best neurosurgeon, Dr. A.S.Hegde.
It could take even months to meet him, if there is no prior appointment. With
the help of a close family friend, I was able to meet the doctor in just a
couple of hours. His optimistic approach about the situation, and encouragement
made me believe after all there is light at the end of the tunnel. Me becoming
mentally strong again gave faith to my family.
I got admitted in the hospital and the pre investigations
for the surgery had begun. After three days of observation, the date of the
surgery was fixed. With the help of a medical crew of 14 doctors and surgeons
operating me for 8+ hours, it came to an end. I struggled for my life, after
almost flatlined. To my surprise, I came back to consciousness and felt like I
was reincarnated.
In the process of removing the outgrown tumour from the
nerve on the earlobe, the consequence was the loss of hearing in my right ear.
The nerve connecting the spine and face was cut. Hence, paralysing the right
side of the face, though I am able to feel/sense. My right eye wouldn’t blink
and lubricant drops helps my eye to stay moistened. Also, the right brow and
right side of my lips wouldn’t move. Even the known people couldn’t recognise
this new half n half face.
After 15 days in hospital post surgery, I finally came back
home. And the following day was my first
wedding anniversary; My dearie got the best possible gift - me back in
good health. After six months of physiotherapy, I got better. Years passed by
with lot of “concerns” from dear and near telling I would be just another doll
in the house.
Then came the next condition. Four years back, due to
handling heavy weights at once, because of the pressure in the disks (C6 &
C7) in the spine caused severe pain in my right hand and the back. Again, got
admitted in Coimbatore after consulting the same doctor for this issue with a
new MRI scan. Pain killers and Physiotherapy saved me once again. I was
constrained to not riding bikes or any kind of transport which would have a lot
of jerking. Again, a couple of months bed rest, continuous physiotherapy
sessions and tractions everyday. Whatever exercise doctor suggested, I doubled
it with the hope that it would strengthen me sooner. Eventually, right hand
started working as before. But, till day, the tip of my index finger is
insensate.
With such history of medical conditions, it was scary to try
yoga or any such thing. But somewhere along the lane, it changed. Must have
been the inspiring posts in this Facebook group, ‘Ullathunaya udal’.
Here I am, without an answer to ‘Our body works for us 24x7,
but how much time do we spend on taking care of our holy body?’, whereas Erode
Kathir’s posts were so inspiring and made me wonder how could he do the things
he posts, in spite of his busy schedule! This further made me infer that maybe
we should allocate and spend sometime in taking care of our body. When I asked
him, he asked me with much ease to join the group to take up some challenge and
if I was interested and could do, I could very well continue. Else I always had
the option to leave.
Just like that I was instated to this Ullathunaya Udal
family (forum created exclusively to discuss exercise and fitness). I used to
be very surprised to see everyone’s interest and dedication to make themselves
fit. I was wowed by the amount work people put in to take care of their bodies
so early in the morning. It had become a routine to check each and every
posts(at least 100 posts a day) to get inspired and to start the morning with
such positive vibes. (When I joined, it was a group of 600, now it has grown
into a group of 2300).
When I started, all I wanted to do was to post something in
the group. It was like an achievement that I could be proud of. But all my body
could co-operate was to walk, and I wanted to do at least that. I was so
determined and kept alarm for 5am, and got up eventually at 7:30am (turning off
the alarm and sleeping cozily again was the secret I don’t want anyone to take
it up). This continued for the next few days, and my wife started making fun of
me telling I would keep alarm and only sleep, and would never get up on time to
go for walking.That day I realised that waking up in the morning was the first
and biggest challenge. Next day, I stopped the alarm instead of snoozing for
the first time.
One advantage in living in a village alongside highway is I
could walk either way and can walk for very long time. With flip flops on and a
torch in hand, the infamous local politicians in the tea shops observed this
and talked among themselves. When I asked around what the gossip was all about,
people thought I must have gotten the hereditary diabetes and that was why I
started walking. I didn’t care what people thought my reason was, I was only
determined to walk everyday.
First day, I was able to walk only 2km. I got positive and
negative criticism from the near and dear. Eventually I was able to get up
early in the morning easily and highway became my friend. And, slowly I started
stretching and started doing exercises on lighter note. I downloaded fitness
apps to keep track of my daily events. One day, when I posted about how much I
enjoyed walking in the morning drizzle, a friend of mine suggested me to not
use highway for walking, as it could be highly dangerous. That’s when I got to
know that there were few friends who used to workout in open school grounds,
and since there wasn’t many people, they stopped this practice. When I took up
the 21 day challenge, I started working out in my old school ground. Though it
was far, I used to walk everyday to school in the morning and made it a habit
to workout there. My friends, seeing my regularity, wanted to join me in this.
We, eight of us started exercising together.
I threw away the slippers and bought a shoe. Then I made
sure of not missing out even a day, at least for the sake of my new shoe,
considering it’s cost. Seeing all this, my eldest son got curious and wanted to
join me. He started walking with me in the morning to my school. Not only there
was a new bridge of bond built between us, his tummy bulge was vanished too. Waking up in the morning
had become a habit for him too. I was so happy for him and I was glad that we
became close, but I had to tell him to concentrate on studies with that fresh
mind in the morning. So during his days off, without fail he would come with me
to workout. Other days, he would study and do his homework.
After a while, I got bored with just walking everyday. When
I was discussing this to my brother, he said he used to play badminton with his
friends, but now that everyone had gotten busy with their lives, maybe we
should try it. So, from the following day, we started walking for an hour and
played badminton for 30 minutes. Without fail, I recorded all these as posts,
and got many likes and comments. Seeing all this, one of the admin of the group
told me to take over to conduct a challenge for the next month in the forum. I
happily took it up and during which time, I got the opportunity to virtually
socialise with many people in the group.
Seeing a fellow member, I wanted to jog everyday for 3km to lose
weight, but then I laughed at me for thinking I had to shed weight (I am always
slim and athletic). Also, I was scared as what would happen to my head while
running. When a friend shared to me that his day would be so dull if he didn’t
jog that day. Hearing that I wanted to at least try jogging a bit. All I wanted
to do was try jogging but and see what
whether my body would take it, and that thought is the foundation for all the
marathons I ever ran in my life.
Without having knowledge on how to run, how long to run at a
stretch, what all could happen to a normal body while running, is it fine to
run till the last breath, what the hell does pace mean, what should be my
intake of food etc, I started running. Slowly I started with 2km, increased to
3km, and increased my distance by a km everyday and slowly realised I could run
and my body wouldn’t give any trouble. This saddened me because I had wasted so
many days in life not knowing this. But then I was happy that I started at
least now.
There was this one friend, seeing my interest, determination
and me actually doing these encouraged me often. When he crossed my village one
day, we met and shared many stories and goals. He lost almost 25 kgs by just
walking and jogging in his life. His stories inspired me a lot and I could even
say his stories were the base for my success story. Even today, he checks in on
me and encourages me without fail.
Because of him, I ran a 10km marathon conducted by Tower
Twisters. By running this, I started my journey of marathon. Following this, I
ran another marathon conducted by Salem Runners in the foothills of Yercaud in
under an hour. It was my pleasure
running in my native land. Next to this, I ran yet another marathon conducted
by amateurs. Poor organisation and other things involved made me unable to
complete a mere 10km run. I was able to run only 8.5km. I learned a lot from
this, but most importantly I would never run for a group who doesn’t know what
they are doing.
My personal record of running 21.1km is 1:57:21s (sub 2).
Up until recently, something never let me tell it out that I
m a marathoner. I was immensely happy and got goosebumps, when I wore the medal
for finishing a full marathon (41.95km in 4:13:15s) for the first time.
For those who might ask what did I benefit from this, this
is for you:
~ developed the habit of waking up early
~ become very active
~ able to organise my day to day work/chores
~ self-analysis
~ self-confidence and courage
~ being healthy
~ lasting friendships
~ best memories with people who are in similar mindset as
mine
~ lastly, at this age I am good looking
To beginners who are interested:
~ Prepare yourself at heart
~ Start with slow pace
~ Keep your goals practical (let the distance number be real
and start with small numbers)
~ Walk/Jog/workout at least four days a week
~ If your knee pains for more than two days initially, get
yourself checked
~ If you get injured/fractured/got cramps, stop your workout
and look into your body. Once recovered, resume
~ Wear correct size shoes
~ Stretch, warm and cool yourself before and after running
~ Eat water based fruits & vegetables and stay hydrated
~ Wear Spanx and Lycra based clothes. Avoid cotton
~ Make sure you take enough amount of protein and
carbohydrates
~ After a while, run in a small distance marathon, you will
get your confidence on point and realise you are ready for this
~ Practice well; Try and beat your best
~ Don’t ever think its not possible if you have any health
conditions. You will never know unless you try.
To all my lovely readers:
I identified myself with the help of a bunch of friends from
this Ullathunaya Udal group, and nothing else. In the group where I found so
much inspiration and determination, if someone else finds that here, it’s an
achievement for me.
When I doubted my stamina for running when compared to
others, I found my answer inside me, as a marathoner.
100 days running challenge:
100 days; 110:05:44s; 1123.45km; 100 paths;
One goal- In my 17 months running history, whatever I
achieved by competing to my old record, this 100 days running challenge made
those 17 months look as if it’s nothing.
Not everyone is same. If someone (friends and family)
discourages you (intentions could be good) in the name of advise, please don’t
take it without trying. You have to try and see it for yourself, whether it is
good for you or not. Analyse yourself by doing something for lesser amount of
time. When you try with all your heart, for all you know, it could just work 🙂
“When you ignore something thinking you couldn’t do it,
someone else would do it proving you are wrong”
- I read this somewhere that inspired me. My sincere thanks to Guruji Shan (founder of U2), Erode Kathir sir
(who motivated me to write more), my wife and family.
Thank you all!
-P BALA MURALI, VAZHAPADI
Translated By Akl Priya Rajasekaran..
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