Teen fights debilitating ailment to score 75% in Plus-2

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Nineteen-year-old Feroz Khan, who suffers from SLE, fought against all odds and scored 75 per cent in his plus-two examination thanks to the TANKER Foundation.

Though he had only two and a half months to prepare, Feroz gave his best. “I never thought I would complete Plus-2.

Now, I’m planning to do B.Com and later Chartered Accountancy,” said Feroz, who was just 13 when he was diagnosed with SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus), a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body. SLE harms the heart, joints, skin, lungs blood vessels, liver, kidneys and the nervous system.

“When I was about to join Class VIII, I started getting continuous fever. We lived in Kilakarai, Ramnad district and initially we were told that I had malaria and typhoid and a skin disease. But when we went to a hospital in Madurai, I was diagnosed with SLE,” said Feroz.

He added that the family’s relatives had started avoiding them when they came to know that the SLE treatment would be costly.

The family, comprising his father Mr Razik Fareeth, a driver, mother Ms Mumtaz, Feroz and his elder brother, came to Chennai for his treatment.

“I suffered a lot and the pain was so unbearable that I used to wonder why I was still alive. Though I wanted to go to school, I was not able to and lost the will to live,” added Feroz.

“When he visited TANKER Foundation and joined our Kilpauk Subsidized Dialysis Unit in 2010, he was very depressed.

Due to steroids and self-medication he had developed chronic kidney disease in 2009 and his parents had a tough time as Feroz has to undergo dialysis twice every week and each dialysis costs between Rs 800 and Rs 2,500.

His mother told me he wanted to study and Feroz managed to complete Class X in 2008 with 428 marks,” informed Ms Latha Kumaraswami, managing trustee of TANKER Foundation.

She encouraged Feroz to study and with the help of donors, he joined a private tutorial and secured 902 marks.

“Though I was dejected initially, now I understand why I am still alive. I want to help people like me because I know the pain. I thank TANKER for helping me,” said a confident Feroz.