Home Scandal and Gossip Mahendra Ahirwar Indian teen with upside down head suddenly dies

Mahendra Ahirwar Indian teen with upside down head suddenly dies

Christopher Koulouris: About author bio at bottom of article.
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Mahendra Ahirwar
Pictured, Mahendra Ahirwar.
Mahendra Ahirwar
Pictured, Mahendra Ahirwar.

Mahendra Ahirwar Indian teen with upside down head suddenly dies. What led to a 13 year old boy recovering from surgery suddenly dying over the weekend?

Mahendra Ahirwar a 13 year old Indian teen born with his head hanging at a 180 degree angle has passed eight months after having corrective surgery.

The Madhya, Pradesh teenager’s death over the weekend comes after being diagnosed with a rare condition called congenital myopathy which made his muscles in his neck so weak that his head would hang.

Notes wikipedia: ‘This defect primarily affects skeletal muscle fibres and causes muscular weakness and/or hypotonia. Congenital myopathies account for one of the top neuromuscular disorders in the world today, comprising approximately 6 in 100,000 live births every year.‘

Ironically the youth’s death comes after being observed to be fine in the morning, but matters took a dramatic course later in the afternoon after Ahirway had finished lunch and had laid down to watch TV before suddenly passing away at 3pm.

A report via the dailymail cited former NHS surgeon, Dr Rajagopalan Krishnan, who completed the surgery to straighten his neck in February this year, saying he was left shocked by the boy’s sudden death.

He said: ‘I can only conjecture that a massive cardiac or pulmonary event might have occurred and often there are no premonitory symptoms in such cases. I think myopathy and poor chest muscles caught up with him in the end.

‘He was among the bravest children I’ve seen since my return to India and I see the most terrible and neglected deformities.’ 

Adding: ‘For me, the joy and smile on his face when his head stopped sagging was one of the defining moments in my decision to operate on children with neglected and awful spinal disorders. 

‘I am sure his absence will cause anguish to everyone who was involved in his care, his smile was brighter than the sun after his neck was straightened.’

Mahendra Ahirwar’s surgery in February had come after the former NHS surgeon and mother-of-two from Liverpool, Julie Jones had set up a crowd-funding page raising £12,000 ($14 870 USD) for treatment.

The operation had left the boy’s father, Mukesh Ahirwar, 42, and his mother Sumitra with hope after having spent years taking their son to see doctors but unable to obtain help.

But their thoughts turned to despair after news of their son’d death this Saturday.

Sumitra said: ‘I had so many plans and dreams for him. I wanted him to grow big. He dreamt of opening a general store and we were going to help him. His dreams are shattered now.

‘He’d been playing in the morning, had breakfast, took a shower and took a ride on his wheelchair inside the house. After having lunch, he asked to watch TV. I switched on his cartoon, and he coughed twice.

‘He asked me to rub his chest and then tried a third cough but died. I started crying loudly and called his name. I ran outside, I kept shouting “my son isn’t moving”, and a neighbor phoned the doctor. The doctor came within 15 minutes and declared he was dead. I fell to the floor and held him tightly. I didn’t want to let him go.’

The family cremated Mahendra in a traditional Hindu ceremony surrounded by 25 friends and family.

Sumitra, who has two other sons Lalit, 17, and Surendra, 11, as well as daughter Manisha, 14, who was very close to Mahendra, added: ‘His things are scattered everywhere. 

‘Our house is filled with his belongings. Nobody thought this day would come. He was fine. He even said “I’m absolutely fine Mum”. His voice echoes in my ear. The way he used to call me. I am devastated. I feel everything is over.’

A documentary, The Boy Who Sees Upside Down, was aired on Channel 5’s Extraordinary People series, in May, this year, and followed what had appeared to be Mahendra Ahirwar’s remarkable journey.

The video documented the youth’d tenacity while enduring a ten-hour operation to remove disks from his neck, and replacing them with bone graft from his pelvis before a metal plate was fitted in his neck to secure it straight.

Dr Krishnan, from Apollo Hospital, in Delhi, who had worked for the NHS for 15 years before returning to India to help extreme spinal disorders, was amazed by Mahendra’s speedy recovery and had been overjoyed at the way his neck had healed.

Dr Krishnan added: ‘Mahendra’s death is not a complication of the surgery or any other intervention. If that was the case, he would have died on the operating table or in ICU, not eight months later.

‘His lifespan was limited irrespective of anything else but at least he had several months of being able to see upright.

‘The most common cause of death in congenital myopathy is from cardiopulmonary complications. There are so many types of congenital myopathy and many subtypes that it’s impossible to identify which one Mahendra had and the prognosis in terms of life expectancy.

‘I still can’t believe he is gone and I will miss him greatly.’

Reiterated the boy’s mother after the initial success of surgery: ‘My little son had the privilege of meeting foreigners and good people. He was treated by the biggest doctors in this country. For him, seeing a different city was like seeing a different world. 

‘He used to get so excited to see big cars. All the presents he received were always on his bed. He was playing with his car until his last day, he was very possessive with it.

‘Dr Krishnan gave him a new life. He gave my son a new vision, a new way to see the world. But in the end it was for a very short time. He enjoyed his new life for just eight months. I wish he could have lived longer to see more.

‘I will miss him. I’ve no idea how I’ll cope with the loss. He’s with God now. I hope he is able to find peace. He’s had a painful life. I hope wherever he is, he is pain-free.’

Yet to be necessarily understood is what definitively led to Mahendra Ahirwar dying over the weekend and whether a coroner’s report had been delivered prior to the teen being cremated…

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