Pousali Guha Biswas. (Aranya Sen)

Pousali Guha Biswas has her heart set on banking. She studies through the week for entrance exams and lets her hair down on Saturdays, going out with friends and having phuchka by the roadside.

Pousali is not a typical 22-year-old eager to embark on a career, though her routine might suggest so. For over 15 years, she has fought bone cancer. Last March, doctors found that the cancer had spread to her lungs (osteogenic sarcoma with pulmonary metastases) and all but gave up hope, but she didn’t let the disease get the better of her.

“I had two options — to give up or fight the disease. The latter seemed the better option,” says the braveheart.

The resilience perhaps stems from her past encounters with hardship.

“In 1993, when Pousali was six years old, a tumour developed in her left leg. Doctors diagnosed bone cancer (Ewing’s sarcoma). She was declared cured after undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but the tumour recurred in the same leg in 1996. The chemotherapy and radiotherapy started again,” says Pousali’s father Shankar, an employee of Calcutta police.

In January 2006, Pousali went under the knife to correct a deformity in her leg that prevented her from walking properly. She could not, however, abandon her crutch even after the operation.

In end-2006, doctors recommended amputation of her left leg from the mid-thigh. As her parents hesitated to take the tough decision, Pousali told the surgeons to go ahead. In December that year, she was fitted with an artificial limb.

Despite the setback, Pousali was in no mood to miss her Part II examination. “Why won’t I study? I will take my exams this year itself,” she had declared.

“My friends say I walk faster than them though I have an artificial limb. I have done everything that a girl my age would do. It is true that I have to be a little cautious on the road, but I still use public transport,” says the English Honours graduate from Lady Brabourne College.

In March 2008 came a bolt from the blue. “I was very depressed after I learnt that the cancer had spread to my lungs. My father’s friend Arindam Ghosh took me to Bangalore for further treatment. I could not take it anymore and was not ready for another round of chemotherapy…. I thought it won’t serve any purpose…. I cried the whole night. But after Arindam-uncle’s counselling, I fought back,” says Pousali.

“She is in the advanced stage. Her lungs are affected, but so far she is coping very well. She has to be assessed after the next CT Scan,” said oncologist G.S. Bhattacharya at AMRI, Dhakuria.

Pousali’s only regret was missing the Part III exams in 2008. “I was supposed to return from Bangalore after my check-up but I could not and had to miss my exams.”

After completing her graduation this year, she is devoting her time to preparing for banking services.

“I had no plans of starting work so early, but I need to as I want to share my father’s expenses and debts, which is piling up with each passing day,” she says.

The family has spent more than Rs 25 lakh on her treatment over the past year.

“Doctors in the city had given up hope and so we go to Curie Centre of Oncology in Bangalore every month for treatment. The expenses are piling up. I now plan to sell my flat and move to a rented place but I will fight till the end,” said Shankar.