Komal Jamwar was only 33 when it happened.One morning, she woke up to find her left leg drooping. She limped out of bed and went to her husband and mother-in-law to tell them about it. They rubbed her feet and suggested it might have happened because of her sleeping position. The matter was dismissed, and Komal went about doing her daily chores.By afternoon, however, the weakness began to worsen, and the family grew worried. Komal went to a doctor with her husband. After examining her, the doctor prescribed a few medicines and told her not to worry, saying it might just be a normal cramp. That evening, there was a family function. Her husband suggested that she come along so that she might feel a little better. Komal went to the party, returned late, and went to sleep. The next morning, when she woke up, both her legs seemed to have stopped working. As she tried to get out of bed, she fell. Startled and frightened, Komal began to cry. Hearing the commotion, her husband, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law rushed to her.
She was immediately taken to a hospital in Jammu, where she was admitted for five days. But doctors were initially unable to determine what had caused the sudden paralysis. On the sixth day, they finally diagnosed her with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and said she needed immediate treatment.GBS is a rare but serious autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves, often after a respiratory or gastrointestinal infection. The condition usually begins with tingling or weakness in the legs and can rapidly progress to paralysis. Thankfully, the disease does have treatment, and the prognosis is generally good if treated in time. But the treatment was expensive. “The doctors told us that one injection would cost around ₹1 lakh and that several doses would be required over a few days,” Komal said. “Later, my family discovered that the medicine was available in the market for around ₹15,000–₹16,000. They managed to arrange the injections, and the doctors began the treatment.” “But instead of feeling better my condition started worsening. I started feeling a heaviness in my chest and could not breathe. The next day the doctors declared me dead and asked my husband to take me home.”
“But my parents and my husband were not ready to accept this. My husband, who is not a doctor and works as an electrician in the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine shrine board, refused to give up. He began giving me CPR. He kept doing it for nearly 35 minutes, or maybe even longer. After some time, I slowly started responding and they could hear me breathing again, ” says Komal.The hospital did not have a ventilator, so Komal was rushed to a hospital in Ludhiana, where she was admitted and put on a ventilator. Doctors placed her on antibiotics and began treating her condition. Gradually, her chest cleared, and she started showing signs of improvement. “It was there that the doctors told me that the injections that had been given to me at a duration of 5-6 days, were all inhected within 24 hours. They said that this led to my condition worsening,” she said. But despite the treatment, Komal remained paralyzed and could not even lift a finger.“I remained bedridden for eight to nine months. When I was in the hospital, my husband and parents took care of me. After we returned home, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law looked after me with great care. It is because of them that I am alive and able to walk today. We also hired a physiotherapist, and she worked really diligently to help me get back on my feet. The therapy was painful, but she kept encouraging me. My children were very young at the time and they would keep hovering around me, which was such a comfort and motivation to get better.” she recalled.
“It was after four to five years that I finally started walking with the help of a walker. Now I can walk on my own, but my walk is not completely stable. If you see me walking, you can still tell that there is a problem,” says Komal. “I always believed that I would survive because I had to take care of my children, and my husband simply refused to give up on me. I think when you truly believe in something and want it deeply, you find the strength to achieve it.“It is true that I had moments of weakness, but my will to live was strong. The love and support of my family were so powerful that I had no option but to overcome this,” Komal says. Today, Komal is healthy and living a normal life with her family. Her story is a reminder of what hope and faith can do for a person. Declared dead at one point, it was her husband’s determination that helped bring her back, and her own belief and perseverance that helped her fight her way back from the brink of death.Faith can move mountains—and Komal’s journey proves it.
