Nearly 40,000 eye surgeries, 352 heart surgeries, treatment for 1,780 cancer patients, 42 kidney transplants, 12 liver transplants and 682 cleft lip and palate surgeries. The numbers are staggering, but they represent more than just medical procedures―they are about the lives transformed by K.S. Jayamohan. Yet, the 66-year-old social worker from Kannur insists that his life's work is merely a way of repaying the second chance he was given.
Born to Sukumaran, a schoolteacher, and Kamalamma in Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram in 1959, Jayamohan was struck by acute rheumatic fever when he was 10. Acute rheumatic fever is a rare immune response that can attack multiple organ systems. In Jayamohan’s case, it left his legs paralysed, confining him to bed for two years.
By August 1971, Jayamohan defied the odds and began walking again. But his battle was far from over. A weakened immune system left him vulnerable, and he contracted osteomyelitis―a severe bone infection that, if untreated, leads to permanent bone loss and tissue death. Over the next 10 years, he endured 28 surgeries, each one a painful attempt to fight the chronic osteomyelitis. Even though Jayamohan had to spend most of his teenage years in pain, he managed to study well. In 1974, he won multiple scholarships, including the National Merit Scholarship, and became the sole representative of Kerala in the National Science Meet for schoolchildren. There, he met then prime minister Indira Gandhi. All this while battling osteomyelitis, which recurred every few months and pushed him back to “being bedridden over and over again”.
In 1978, while still a college student and a frequent visitor to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College owing to his health issues, Jayamohan began his journey into palliative care. “I started visiting the cancer ward and accident trauma ward, spending time with patients in distress,” he recalls. “I always carried a flower in my hand during these visits. The first person I offered palliative care to was a nun named Sr Chrisantha, who was battling cancer.”
In 1981, at the age of 22, Jayamohan suffered a severe osteomyelitis attack on his hip. “The doctors had to remove seven portions from my hip,” he recalls. “To stop the infection from spreading and to save my life, they over-administered an antibiotic called Gentamicin. They warned me that this could lead to complications, most likely kidney issues. But instead of renal problems, I developed neurological issues. I suffered bilateral hearing impairment and completely lost the ability to distinguish one sound from a group of sounds.”
But that didn’t stop him from heeding his inner calling―he devoted every spare moment between his studies and his regular job to social work. In 1996, he joined the LIC Kanhangad branch in Kasaragod district as an assistant officer. During that time, he actively worked to address the waste management issues at the Kanhangad fish market, organising local residents to combat the health hazards posed by the unhygienic conditions.
While Jayamohan credits his mother for planting the seeds of philanthropy in him, it was a life-changing encounter that ultimately prompted him to commit to social work fully. “I was travelling in the general compartment of the Malabar Express from Thiruvananthapuram to Mattannur,” he recalls. “I managed to find a seat. But then, I saw a girl being carried into the compartment; she couldn’t walk. Her name was Philomena Thomas, and she was as old as me. I gave up my seat for her and offered her coffee, but she declined, worried she would later have to use the toilet, which was difficult for her to access. She told me she had been paralysed by polio at the age of nine―the same age when I, too, was partially paralysed.”
When Jayamohan asked her about her greatest need, she said, “A wheelchair.” The Red Cross was the only organisation he knew of then that provided free wheelchairs, so he submitted a request on her behalf. However, the application was rejected twice. Determined to keep his promise, Jayamohan took matters into his own hands. “On the death anniversary of my mother, who passed away in 1994, I decided to give her a wheelchair,” he recalls. “I even took out a loan to buy it.”
Soon, Jayamohan became an active volunteer and later the chief coordinator of Kerala Patients Welfare Association. With the help of his patrons, Jayamohan started helping ailing patients and started organising medical camps. On the Republic Day of 2003, he along with a group of other social workers founded Health Oriented Project Establishment or HOPE at Our Lady of Sorrows Church Pilathara, a suburb in the Kannur district of Kerala. HOPE was registered as a trust in July 2004, and one of its earliest activities was to distribute 125 wheelchairs to the disabled.
Since its inception, HOPE has impacted over 2 lakh lives through its philanthropic activities. In 2007, it established a Spastic Rehabilitation Centre at Pilathara to support individuals with cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism, muscular dystrophy and Alzheimer’s. It also launched cancer control initiatives, organising 69 early detection camps and facilitating numerous corrective surgeries.
HOPE has provided hospital-based support for hundreds of TB and cancer patients. It has distributed more than 34,000 wheelchairs and 2,031 artificial limbs for free across India. HOPE has extended treatment support to Endosulfan victims and introduced a mobile clinic for them in January 2013. It also launched a mobile dialysis unit with the Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat, and has conducted thousands of medical and health awareness camps. Additionally, it initiated an integrated development programme for tribal communities focusing on health, education and career training.
As the founder general secretary of HOPE, Jayamohan’s current focus is expanding the Spastic Rehabilitation Centre to accommodate 350 more residents. Despite facing severe neurological issues that limit his ability to lift anything above 2kg and dealing with ongoing treatments for neurological, cardiovascular and urological issues, and diabetes, Jayamohan remains dedicated to helping as many people as possible.