Not afraid of exams; nor of cancer

A 15-year old girl, who fought cancer to appear for her SSC examination in Mumbai has scored 77 per cent marks, but isn't around to celebrate.

Vaibhavi, who wrote 'I am going to conquer the disease and not let the disease conquer me' in all her notebooks, lost the battle to cancer in May.

But before she breathed her last, Vaibhavi did what she had promised herself and her parents -- she wrote all her papers without any special assistance. The board offered a writer's help and also extra time to finish her papers. She said no to both.

A teary Vasant Joil, 47, Vaibhavi's father, celebrated his daughter's success on Friday. "My daughter has won. She is a topper in the real sense of the term," he told reporters.

"She had been through a reconstruction surgery earlier where her diseased bone in the hand was replaced by a bone from the foot. All appeared well till the disease resurfaced when she was preparing for her exams," said Joil.

Vaibhavi prepared for her exams shuttling between chemotherapy sessions, hospitalisation, bouts of nausea, pain and uncertainty about the future.

"My girl has left behind a message for thousands -- nothing can defeat you, not even death, if you choose to face it the way you want," Joil said.

While Vaibhavi did not live to see what she achieved, another bone cancer patient, Nikhil Chandrakant Mane, was luckier.

Nikhil, who underwent a knee replacement surgery after he was diagnosed with bone cancer, has put the disease behind him.

Topping in the handicapped category with 91.73 per cent, Nikhil said: "I did not let the disease affect me. I just chose to see it in a different way."

Asked how his friends react to the disease, he said: "Oh nothing extra special, we interact as normal friends would."

Nikhil spent the last year in hospital and has gone through nine cycles of chemotherapy.

"I am not exactly a book worm, but reading happens to be my passion. Yes, I do loves sports...football is my favourite," he said.

Does he approve of the merit list? "I have reservations about it. Though I am happy at being a topper, I am not a supporter of such a system," he said.