Vile Parle man survives two life-and-death situations in little over a month

Had it not been for the CCTV footage from Amitabh Bachchanrsquos Pratiksha Bungalow in Juhu the Mahamulkar family as well as doctors would have remained clueless about the reason behind the severe traumatic brain injury Abhijeet Mahamulkar sustained on the afternoon of July 15It has been two months since Abhijeet 49 was operated on but he continues to be in a comatose vegetative state in a suburban super speciality hospital His treating doctors initially believed that he might have sustained a brain haemorrhage as the family informed them that Abhijeet was on blood thinners post his recovery from Covid19 a month before It is believed that the blood thinners led to severe internal bleeding in the brain after the hitandrun incident on July 15During the surgery the neurosurgeon opened his skull and saw that every part of his brain was injured It was only five days after the surgery that Mahamulkarrsquos family and doctors learnt about the accident Mahamulkar who was riding his motorbike was hit by a speeding autorickshaw near a signal close to Pratiksha Bungalow Though he wore a helmet he had not tightened the chinstrap The CCTV footage also showed that Mahamulkar was thrown off the bike due to the impact and his helmet flew before his head banged on the road However as there was no external damage to either his body or the bike the accident would never have come to foreMahamulkar was found unconscious on the road and was taken to the hospital by a good samaritan The police have since seized the auto but the driver is still absconding His family and treating doctors are now hoping for a medical miracle as Mahamulkar was in a life and death situation twice in less than a monthHis wife Ujwala has a message to all twowheeler riders ldquoAbhijeet had not tightened his helmet chinstrap leading to severe brain injury You should not repeat the same mistake Wear a helmet and never forget to tighten the chinstrap No one should go through the situation that Abhijeet and we are going throughrdquoOur lives changed in a dramatic wayMahamulkar ran a real estate business and was wellknown for his safe driving and maintaining his health ldquoMy husband since his childhood had never been to a doctor or got admitted in hospital for any ailment Even at this age he was fit and did his regular exerciserdquo said Ujwala who works for a leading nationalised bank The couple and their two childrenmdasha son and a daughtermdashlive in Vile Parle West Abhijeet would shuttle between his Vile Parle house and Satara where his elderly parents liveAccording to Ujwala their lives changed completely sometime after April when Mahamulkar developed fever while he was in Satara She said he was avoiding check up and was taking medicine prescribed by his doctor friend suspecting it to be a case of viral fever ldquoHowever on the eighth day when his condition started deteriorating I forcibly got him to do a highresolution computed tomography HRCT and other tests The test reports confirmed he had contracted Covid19 and his lungs were infectedrdquo she saidldquoWe tried to get a hospital bed with oxygen in Mumbai Pune and even Satara but to no avail Then I asked my husband to use his network and his friends finally helped to arrange a bed in a private hospital in Satara The doctors tried their best to treat Abhijeet but his condition was getting worse with every passing day The doctors then asked us to reach Satarardquo recalled UjwalaMy son and I also got CovidShe said ldquoWhen we reached the hospital my son and I also tested positive for Covid I was admitted to the same hospital as my husband who was in the ICU The doctors had given up on my husband saying he was not responding to the Covid treatments and were planning to put him on ventilator supportrdquoldquoI was keen to get my husband shifted to a better facility and contacted my brother and relatives who managed to get a bed at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune Abhijeet was admitted there while I continued with my treatment at Satara After a few days I was discharged and my husband also showed improvement He was finally discharged on June 2 The doctors had advised him to take blood thinners as postCovid treatmentrdquo recalled UjwalaHe had lost over 20 kilogramsMahulkarrsquos family said he was very particular about physical fitness and would exercise regularly He used to weigh 75 kilograms but lost 20 kgs during Covid He was keen to gain weight and start his routine though he was complaining of some weaknessIn a bid to get fit he left to buy some home exercise equipment on July 15 ldquoI was in my bank when I got a call informing me about my husbands hospitalisation I initially thought it might be due to weakness or that he got a stroke When I rushed to the hospital the good Samaritan told me my husband was lying unconscious on the road and that he had got him to hospitalrdquo recalled UjawlaRegained consciousness and complained of headacheMahamulkar gained consciousness after nearly three hours and complained of severe headache However he could not recall the accident ldquoMy husband had no injury on his body and there was no scratch on the twowheeler so we did not suspect an accidentrdquo said UjwalaldquoAfter a few hours he was once again slipping into an unconscious state The treating doctors were prompt to reach out to Dr Shashank Joshi a neurosurgeon who decided to carry out an emergency surgery which started a little past midnight and went on till 430 am in the morning The doctors did their best to save my husbands life even though they were not very sure about the outcomerdquo she explainedSecond opinions did not helpUjwala said ldquoMy husband was on life support as he had developed an infection and his kidney stopped working as well He was put on dialysis and remained unconscious since his surgery I decided to seek a second opinion from other known experts but everybody had the same opinion there was no way out This only pushed me further into depression I finally decided to trust and believe the treating doctors who did wonders to pull my husband out from the jaws of death for the second time the first was due to Covid complicationsrdquoldquoAfter sustained line of treatment and care by doctors and medical staff at Arogya Nidhi my husband can now open his eyes but his vision is not restored yet he cant speak nor can he move He is still in a vegetative state We do not want to lose him Our hope and trust is with the treating doctors and we are waiting for a medical miracle He will come back to us one day and will start exercising with his brand new equipment which is at home waiting for himrdquo said UjawalaShe added ldquoI would not have managed all of it alone it is because of the wholehearted support from my parents brothers and wellwishers including my colleagues that we are able to face the biggest challenge of our life Abhijeetrsquos parents who are in their late seventies are also concerned and are praying for his speedy recoveryrdquoNeurosurgeon speakldquoAbhjieet was treated for Covid19 and was advised to take blood thinners as post recovery treatment When he was brought to Bhartiya Arogya Nidhi Hospital his health was rapidly deteriorating due to internal bleeding which was due to the blood thinners that he was having and he slipped into an unconscious state We had no other option but to plan for an emergency surgery to save his liferdquo said Dr Shashank Joshi consulting neurosurgeonldquoHis brain injuries got aggravated and he developed a blood clot called a subdural hematoma around the brain His frontal lobes also had contusion hematomas and small brain had another contusion hematoma We removed a large skull bone typically called bifront parietotemporal for decompression of the oedema which was caused due to traumatic injury to the brainrdquo explained Dr JoshiHe added ldquoPost surgery Abhijeet was on life support for a few days and had even developed an infection in brain We were not sure about the prognosis and response to the treatment but to our surprise Abhijeet responded well He has a strong willpower to fight back We then shifted him to Hiranandani to provide him with Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy This situation could have been ignored had Abhijeet tightened the helmet chinstraprdquoThe good Samaritan speakThe presence of mind and timely action taken by Vikram Sanghvi 43 a businessman from Vile Parle to shift an unconscious Abhijeet to a nearby hospital has left the Mahamulkar family indebted to himSpeaking to midday Sanghvi said ldquoThat afternoon around 1 pm I was returning from Bhartiya Arogya Nidhi Hospital where my aunt was undergoing treatment I was on my twowheeler and noticed a crowd near Big Brsquos Pratiksha Bungalow A man was lying unconscious on the road and I saw his helmet lying a few meters awayrdquoldquoLooking at the helpless unconscious victim on the road I wanted to help Since more than 15 years I have been donating blood regularly as my blood group is rare O negative The thought that I have the power to help someone gives me a lot of motivation The same motivated me to step forward in this unfathomable situationrdquo said SanghvildquoThe people in the crowd were willing to help but hesitant as they did not want to get involved in any medico legal issue I took the initiative and requested the onlookers to help me move the unconscious person to a hospital They helped me get him into an auto I picked up all the belongings of the victim and followed the auto on my bikerdquo he saidHe added that the medical staff at the hospital were prompt to start the treatment ldquoI had also collected his mobile phone Luckily the emergency number belonged to his wife and I informed her about the situation She was working in a nearby bank and could rush to the hospital I am still in touch with the Mahamulkar family and do get apprised about Abhijeetrsquos health conditionrdquo he saidSanghvi also has a message for twowheeler users ldquoPlease use proper helmet and tighten the chinstrap Do save two or three contact numbers on your mobile as emergency contacts for any medical emergencyrdquo He also added ldquoMost importantly the public at large instead of being mute spectators should take the initiative of shifting the victim to a nearby hospital and should not worry about any legal consequence or policy inquiry for helping and saving a liferdquo Expert speakPiyush Tewari founder and chief executive officer CEO of Savelife Foundationmdasha Delhibased non profit organisation committed to saving lives on roads in India and beyond since 2008 said ldquoEach year more than half a million people are seriously injured or disabled in road crashes in India Head injury is one of the most significant causes of brain damage and paralysis In many cases victims survive but remain in a vegetative state for the rest of their lives The only way to prevent this situation is to wear a helmetmdashnot just place it on the head but fasten it around the chin so that it doesnrsquot fall during a crashrdquoRoad crashes involving two wheelersAccording to a 2019 report by the Union ministry of road transport and highways titled ldquoRoad Accidents in Indiardquo released in September 2020 twowheelers account for 35 per cent of total road accident deaths on National Highways falling under NHAI followed by cars taxis vans and LMVs 186 per cent and pedestrians 14 per cent This is followed by trucks 107 per cent buses 49 per cent and bicycles 29 per cent The figures are not very different from the percentage share for these road user categories for National Highways as a whole In 2019 Maharashtra made up 105 per cent of the total road crash deaths and Mumbai made up 28 per cent of the total deaths 6436 in crashes where two wheelers were the impacting objectRegionwise accident dataNationalTotal crashes 167184Deaths 56136Injuries 173293MaharashtraTotal crashes ndash 13330Deaths ndash 5894Injuries ndash 11145MumbaiTotal crashes 967Deaths 183Injuries 1054Maharashtra ranks 2 in twowheeler deaths in 2019 In 2019 Maharashtra ranked second in twowheeler user deaths in the country making up for 10137 of the total road crash deaths involving twowheelers The genderwise split is as followsNational ndash 51305 male 6960 Female total ndash 58265Maharashtra ndash 5290 male 694 female total ndash 5894Road crash deaths due to nonusage of helmets In 2019 Maharashtra witnessed the second highest number of deaths due to nonusage of helmets in the countryRegionNational ndash 30148 drivers 14518 passengers total ndash 44666Maharashtra 3682 drivers 1646 passengers total ndash 5328Road crash injuries due to nonusage of helmets Maharashtra also made up for 8237 of the total road crash injuries due to nonusage of helmets in 2019National ndash 68260 drivers 45354 passengers total ndash 113614Maharashtra 5561 drivers 3800 passengers total 9361Source SaveLife Foundation