Some challenges are seemingly lifelong. And so it is with Nomesh Kumar Verma of Tekari village of Dharsiwa block in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur district. When he was only seven years old, Nomesh was diagnosed with sickle cell disease, a group of disorders that cause the red blood cells to become misshapen and break down. The red blood cells (RBCs) contort into a sickle shape, the cells die early, leaving a shortage of healthy RBCs, causing infections, pain, fatigue and in many cases a distinct limp.
Nomesh’s mother passed away when he was only 10 years old. His father soon remarried but the stepmother, instead of being kind to the boy was rather cruel and vain. Nomesh would often be at the rough end of his stepmother’s ire which would, more often than not, translate into and maltreatment. When he turned 14, Nomesh snapped and could not withstand the violence anymore. With his younger brother in tow, Nomesh left home and settled elsewhere in Raipur.
To put food on the table for his brother and himself, Nomesh would sell vegetables in the local village haat. But more trouble was in the offing. When he dropped out of Class IX, he was struck down by a severe form of the disease and was bed-ridden for a month. He approached the district hospital and was able to obtain documents that certified him (40 percent) as a person with disability (PWD). Not one to give up, Nomesh enrolled himself at the Raipur Polytechnic College where he underwent training as an electrician.
