Memories of a bright but brief life live on
What began as a fund to help cure Devshan Weerasekera, when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2017, was turned into a fund to help other students pursue their higher studies when he sadly succumbed to his disease
Brightly but briefly, like a candle in the wind, Devshan Weerasekera gently walked this earth, his life fading away before he celebrated his 16th birthday. As we walk into his home in Pamunuwa, Maharagama, what greets us is a photograph of Devshan, one of very few, for he being passionate about photography captured everyone else, be it at school events or at home, but not of himself.
Devshan the ideal son and brother, who was many things to many people is no more but lives on through numerous teenagers across the country who are the recipients of grants generated from the Devshan Weerasekera Memorial Trust Fund (DWMTF). (See box for details).
It is from Devshan’s father Chandrasiri, mother Nirupa and younger sister Vidunmi that we get little insights as to who this teenager was. Thevjan, his younger brother, is not home, having gone for an outstation Scout camp.
December 24 – Devshan would have been 18 and yes, the tears flow over the ever-so brief journey in this world, not even a full 16 years.
An all-rounder, good in his studies, taking part in a wide variety of extracurricular activities at Royal College, it is in 2017 that everything was not right with Devshan had come to light.
“There was a big flood that year and the schools were closed but he was heavily into all his extra-curricular activities. One day, Devshan complained, ‘angata amarui’ and ‘ kammelei’,” remembers Nirupa, a doctor attached to the National Hospital, Colombo, as Chandrasiri, an engineer sits close by.
Wonderful memories of a time before that are held dear. At
Devshan’s insistence, though hardly able to afford it, the family had toured Europe.
All the bookings – airfares and airbnb stays – had been meticulously organized by
Devshan, who also kept taking numerous photographs.
It was sometime after their return that lethargy hit Devshan. One day he had vomited during hockey practice and looked pale and they had done a blood test immediately. June 3, their lives changed irrevocably. The call came that the blood reports “were not good” and they repeated them.
It was as if a thunderbolt hit them out of the blue – Devshan had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), but it was treatable and curable. Decisions had to be made, opinions sought, with relatives and friends forming a close-knit support group.
They took Devshan to Vellore within three days of diagnosis, while unfazed by all that was happening around him and holding onto the hope of overcoming this malignancy, he immersed himself in the exciting world of Greek mythology, through the series ‘Percy Jackson & the Olympians’, a pentalogy of fantasy adventure novels written by American author Rick Riordan.
In the two weeks he was in Vellore, however, the chemotherapy did not work and it was back to Colombo, a private hospital and then the National Cancer Institute, Maharagama, with Oncologists and Haematologists launching a massive effort to save Devshan, as ALL, a blood cancer, was 95% curable.
However, it was not to be – all reports underscored the crucial need for an immediate bone marrow transplant since the chemotherapy alone was not adequate, for it was not Philadelphia positive ALL which was treatable but Philadelphia chromosome-like ALL.
Hope was not lost, though the cure rate was low, and Chandrasiri kept on writing to many places seeking advice and Nirupa says that unlike for many others, Devshan had no serious side-effects to the chemotherapy.
Many rallied round not only with funds to take Devshan for a bone marrow transplant abroad but also in numerous other ways. “These people including relatives and friends here and abroad along with the Principal and the Royal College community, the Visakha Vidayalaya community, our university batch mates, past and present employers and colleagues responded and made the ‘Cure Devshan Fund’ swell,” says Nirupa, also appreciative of all the doctors who took care of him and engaged in fund-raising.
On August 16, mother and son, had faithfully walked around as advised to get a little exercise, but coming back to his bed at the Cancer Hospital he had said: “Mata amarui.” His pulse was low and he was going into shock. Later transferred to a private hospital to get an MRI done, he had passed away following cardiac arrest on August 17.
“Devshan was with us for a short while and we believe he has gone to a good place, showing how transient and impermanent our lives are,” says Nirupa as Chandrasiri and Vidunmi nod in mute sadness.