25-year-old dahi handi participant becomes paralysed after fall

Mumbai: Suraj Kadam, 25, is lying in KEM Hospital’s high-dependency unit (HDU), a ward for intensive observation, treatment and nursing care, after being diagnosed with quadriplegia or paralysis below the chest level. A resident of Nalasopara, Kadam sustained a crush injury in the cervical spine while participating in the dahi handi human pyramid on September 7. He was rushed to KEM Hospital at 2 am.

“He was on the second level of the pyramid when the person above him slipped and fell on Suraj,” said Sachin Jadhav, Kadam’s uncle. “Suraj’ mandal friends rushed him to a local hospital where they were told to take him to a tertiary care hospital, as he did not have any movement in his lower limbs.”

Kadam, who works as an office boy in a private bank in Fort, lost his parents to Covid-19 in the pandemic. He was the only earning member in the family and has three younger siblings. “He has been participating in dahi handi for many years. I don’t know how this happened, but doctors are not very hopeful about his recovery,” said Jadhav, who was waiting outside the HDU.

Doctors from the hospital’s orthopaedic department have diagnosed Kadam with cervical vertebra fracture with quadriparesis, affecting his bladder and bowel movements. “When the person above him slipped, the kinetic energy with which he fell on Kadam’s neck region resulted in a crush injury,” said a doctor treating Kadam. “There is a neurological injury due to the impact, which has damaged his spinal cord. He is paralysed below the chest region.”

Kadam will undergo a two- or three-hour-long surgery on September 9 for decompression of the compressed nerves to free the spinal cord, along with fixing the fracture. However, doctors said that the surgery would not aid in Kadam’s neurological recovery.

“The intercostal muscles, which are between the ribs, are paralysed,” said another doctor treating Kadam. “Only the diaphragm—the muscle that helps one inhale and exhale—is helping him in the breathing process. As days go by, such patients develop a cough and the secretions collect in the chest, leading to broncho-pneumonia. That is the earliest complication of this condition.”

Along with Kadam, doctors at KEM Hospital’s orthopaedic department will also operate on Sohan Pednekar (30), who sustained a lumbar spine fracture. “He was just a bystander,” said the doctor. “He narrowly escaped major damage to his spine. He does not have movement in his toes, but we are hoping for recovery after the surgery. His bowel and bladder movements are unaffected.”

Jadhav said the government should seriously consider restricting the human pyramid height. “Today, as my nephew is lying in hospital, there is no mandal standing next to him to help him,” he said teary-eyed. “The government cannot give us a guarantee that he will get back on his feet. Doctors are doing their best but they can’t perform a miracle. What will happen to his siblings? Who will look after them?”

Last year’s dahi handi saw three participants develop quadriplegia, and all three succumbed to their injuries later. This year, as per the BMC, 195 dahi handi participants had to get medical treatment.