Meet Shalini Saraswati Lost both arms and legs but did not lose hope became Blade Runner

Shalini Saraswati lost both her arms and legs due to suffering from a rare bacterial disease but did not let her lose her self-confidence. At the age of 36, she started running and is now preparing for next year's Paralympics. She is a motivational speaker and blogger.

Shalini Saraswati was a simple and happily married woman. Her parents are from the Kollam district of Kerala, but Shalini was born and brought up in the city of Bangalore. She did her schooling at St. Mary's Girls High School. After that, she completed her graduation from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She was a dancer and worked in BPO.

In February 2012, Shalini Saraswati went to Cambodia with her husband Prashant Chowdappa to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary. Meanwhile, she came to know that she was pregnant. Both husband and wife were very happy. Everything was going well in life. But all changed in her life when the time had taken a harsh turn when she came in contact with a rare bacterial disease called 'rickettsial atmos' which is endemic to South-East Asia.

After coming back from Cambodia, she started showing symptoms like fever and fatigue. Shalini Saraswati understood the symptoms associated with pregnancy and maintained continuity in her daily lifestyle. Although the symptoms persisted, doctors suspected dengue or malaria because of a low platelet count on a blood test at the initial medical examination. But her condition was getting worse day by day, then further medical examination revealed a rare bacterial disease, rickettsial atmos. 

When her condition deteriorated, she was admitted to the ICU of Manipal Hospital in the city on 1 April. Instead of fighting the bacteria, her body affected healthy cells. She went into a coma, many of her organs were not working, and her pulse was also stopping. Her lungs filled with water. The doctors had given up hope but Shalini Saraswati won the battle of her life and regained consciousness on her birthday i.e. 5th of April. Meanwhile, she also lost her child in her womb.

Shalini Saraswati later took the support of Ayurveda but there was no significant effect. In September 2013, she had to get both her arms and legs amputated.

In due course of time, she accepted her new position and adapted himself without arms and legs. Shalini Saraswati had lost her arms and legs but did not lose her courage. In 2014, she started walking again with the help of a prosthetic leg. She had gained weight due to being immobile for a long time and now she wanted to get healthy. Although the traditional system like the gym was not favorable to her and neither was the right trainer.

Shalini Saraswathi got introduced to coach BP Ayyappa through a friend. Her training started in 2015. She started practicing, walking, and doing related workouts every morning for 90 minutes at the Kanteerava Stadium under the supervision of coach BP Ayyappa. In 2016, with the suggestion of Coach Ayyappa, she started running and made it his goal. 

In the same year, participated in TCS 10K and reached the destination in 2:02 hours. Improving her time in 2017, she clocked at 1:35 hours. In 2018, she participated in national-level sports and secured the third position in the 100-meter sprint. Shalini is now an accomplished para-athlete. She is training to qualify for the next year's Paralympics in Japan.

Apart from being a professional athlete, Shalini Saraswati is also a motivational speaker and blogger. She is also the Deputy General Manager of First Source Solutions BPO Company. During the lockdown, Shalini started vlogging with Firewall, a Silicon Valley-based app that features original episode series and enables users to discover, create and share 30-second videos. Shalini shares her life in this app called "Breaking Barriers - Shalini 2.0". She writes down her thoughts and makes videos. Firework does the editing and mixing.

Shalini publishes 5 videos every week since the end of August and her page has been viewed over 2,57,154 times in less than a month, with one video getting over 200,000 views and the other over 13,000 views.

Roads never end, only people lose courage.

If you want to learn to swim, you have to get into the water, no one becomes a diver by sitting on the shore.

Salute to your courage and fearlessness Shalini Saraswati.