When physical health deteriorates, your body demands you to be emotionally stronger to face and fight the disease. A constant "Never give up" call from your mental health eases the battle, regardless of how severe the ailment is. Akshata Acharya, a survivor of Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis – the type of TB which is observed in only 2 of 5 people and is considered by WHO as a “health security threat” – spoke to Swarna Srikanth after penning down her experiences of combatting MDR-TB in her book Eclipsed.
Read excerpts
What was the toughest part of the whole phase – diagnosis, battling it, or what else?
Getting those reports in hand and learning the fact that I have Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was just a one-minute thing. What followed later was a bigger battle and it was tough because the treatment lasted for two years. A patient has to pop thousands of pills, which have brutal side effects, so every day was a new struggle.
When physical health challenged you, did mental health become your strength?
There were physical challenges, of course. I was briefly confined to a wheelchair when I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. I never thought I would be able to walk properly ever. But the TB journey was not just about physical health, but mental health as well, which is something sadly not widely discussed.
I used to cry for days without even knowing why…it was a scary space! I was numb, but my mother, who herself had been through a life threatening disease and had come out stronger, never gave up. She made sure that her daughter too gracefully crosses over to the other side and emerges stronger.
“One minute at a time” is what she kept telling me whenever I was at the precipice of a breakdown and I guess that mantra worked beautifully!
What inspired you to write a book encapsulating your experiences?
I was feeling unsettled and therefore to articulate and detangle my thoughts, I started journaling. I kept making notes about everything I witnessed during this phase as it helped me declutter. The random pages of my diary started taking a concrete shape, and that's when I had my AHA moment. I decided to get author-ized and that's how Eclipsed happened.
How different do you think your life would have been if you were not affected by MDR-TB?
Oh, very different! I don’t know ‘good different’ or ‘bad different’... but having gone through some crazy ups and downs, I cherish the lessons this disease and its ramifications have taught me. It was a blessing in disguise. I would not call the TB-phase ‘life defining,’ but would rather say it was ‘life-redefining.’
As an actor and a theatre artist, do you see yourself performing "Akshata and her MDR-TB story" on stage someday?
“Akshata and her TB story” was meant for a book. That journey has found its way. I, as an actor, am now set out for a new journey. My debut film, Malhar, releases on June 7 this year. Fingers crossed.
