My Wanderings - 41. Short Story No. 23. Sentence Revoked

Suresh Dhar was a person  to be reckoned with. He could not be ignored so easily. There was something charismatic about his personality that every one got attracted towards him. He was a man of average stature having a slim  body , fair complexion   with handsome and sharp features emanating an air of decency and smartness. He was a personification  of intelligence and wisdom blended together in a fair mix. He  always dressed immaculately with a streak of Irish style. He was also having  a jovial and extrovert nature and he greeted everybody with open heart. Perhaps his nature added more to his personality than his physique.  He was brought up by his parents   in much discipline rather than pampering ,  which he otherwise  deserved being the only child born in a well to do family. After completing engineering and doing job for some time, he started his own business which picked up nicely. He married a sweet natured and graceful lady, who was a Doctor by profession. She gave birth to two lovely kids a boy and  a girl. The life of Suresh was moving smoothly and his business was also picking up nicely. He was  also able to make a good property  and resources. While achieving milestones in his business , he remained much humble. He never let success  go to his head and always accepted his accomplishments with  humility. He had all the virtues and he was devoid of any vices. He was a nonsmoker and a teetotaller.
While returning from one of his business trips from America, he felt some gastric problem as food thereat did not suit him well. After taking treatment from his wife for sometime, he consulted a Gastroenterologist , who advised him for some pathological and diagnostic tests. It was to the utter shock of family and patient himself, that  tests revealed malignancy of liver and that too of last stage. It was really a bolt from blue which jolted the nerves of whole family. Doctor advised  that Suresh will  survive only  for six months more despite of all the remedies deployed   against the disease in the shape of chemotherapy or any other alternative cures utilised.
A cold shrill passed through the spine of Suresh. His nerves  shattered. He felt as if Doctor had announced a death sentence  to him. He felt his whole body ripping apart. He preferred the death due to  accident or heart attack because it kills suddenly with out torturing one psychologically. He thought of his parents, his wife and his children. How they will suffer with out him. He could conceive their wailing faces. The agony writ large on their faces made Suresh more desperate.  He had to face many challenges in business but this challenge appeared to him  impassable. He felt helpless and deserted by the vagaries of fate. He could not reconcile with the reality of life. He felt scared of approaching death and more of the thought of it. The thought of something  inevitable to happen in life is more torturous than the real  happening of event . The train of  negative thoughts continued to take toll of his already distraught nerves and thereby making him more miserable and meek.
Then  a new thought struck his mind, if some miracle happened and he survived . How he will live his life with new perception?. He will feel grateful to the lord and express gratitude for every minute of it. Then he could reminisce  the incidents of his past life. The nostalgia made him more desperate and restless. He could not control his thoughts anymore. He wanted to forget everything. More he thought about his future or past more remorseful he became. He wanted to get rid of  his  all thoughts. When he perceived that it was not possible he wished  to die instantly so that these thoughts do not torment him anymore. Instant death could atleast relieve him from present tension.
The treatments continued in succession . He suffered much due to various treatments of chemotherapy, surgeries and radio therapies for months together. He was virtually reduced to Skelton. The therapies made him  look haggard with  sunken eyes and  he totally lost his hair. Alternative therapies also continued with the regular  ones. With the elapse of six months Suresh began to accept the reality of his life. He gained some confidence and will power and  he wanted to live more. He began to console his wife and old parents. The thought of death could not scare him any more now. He  developed a divine outlook and a stoic attitude towards life. After some time   Doctors were surprised to note  unexpected levels of  recovery in the health of Suresh as revealed by  his  latest diagnostic test reports. Years elapsed ,therapies stopped  and Suresh could feel that God has perhaps renewed the lease of his life for some  years more.
After elapse of ten years of this incident, Suresh is still alive and in good health. He sometimes  shares the  experiences of his bad days with his close friends only, which prompted me to write this story, perhaps for the benefit of those patients who are still suffering from this  dreaded disease and  on reading this may take  heart again.