Sometimes life takes you to the lowest and darkest phase ever, but that doesn’t means everything is over, in fact, it signifies the beginning of an evolved person and a new story. One such inspiring person who triumphed over all adversities at a very young age and is now giving it back to the society is Kamal Shah.
In 1997, Kamal Shah’s world crashed suddenly while on his way to study in the US. Shah was completing the formalities for a student visa, which included preventive vaccinations for hepatitis, typhoid, measles, mumps and rubella. He got a slight fever after his shots, which he rubbished off as a normal side effect.
But his health worsened and he was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness — Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (AHUS) at just 21. The only solution was to undergo a kidney transplant, which he underwent. Thereafter, he underwent a live-donor transplant, which unfortunately was unsuccessful.
While talking about his first reaction after knowing of his condition, Kamal said in an interview, “The first thought was what about my Master’s in the US — will this condition resolve in a few weeks so I can go to the US and continue my education? What could this condition mean? How long would it last?”
“While there were times when I would think and worry about the way my life was unfolding, especially when my kidney transplant failed, I lost hope. But later, I got my act together and switched to peritoneal dialysis (PD). I also incorporated meditation and journaling into my daily routine. Both these help me tremendously with my mental health,” he added.
Gradually, he started adjusting to his treatment-supported life. He began writing a blog to express his thoughts about how life changes with an sudden diagnosis of a critical life-changing disease. His blog slowly become famous among dialysis circles in India.
Consequently. a former colleague of Shah, Vikram Vuppala contacted him in a bid to begin a venture in the healthcare sector. Kamal agreed to collaborate with Vuppala and together with Sandeep Gudibanda, also a former colleague, they established NephroPlus in 2009.
With the very first centre started in Hyderabad, NephroPlus is based on the philosophy that those living on dialysis can lead normally. In the last eight years, they have established 140 centres in 85 cities across 18 states with over 10,000 patients undergoing dialysis presently. They conduct over one lakh dialysis sessions monthly. NephroPlus ensures affordable treatment with prices between Rs 1,200 and Rs 2,500 varying on the city. With this, they have become India’s largest dialysis service provider and aim to expand into more countries.
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