Following his 16th surgery―a renal transplant―then 21-year-old Syam Kumar S.S., an amputee since age 8, confronted a fatal thought. “I told myself, ‘I have already suffered a lot in life. It is enough,’”he recalls. And then he had another thought―“What if I jump from a height?”
Jump he did, not to his death but to reach greater heights. Kumar, now 23, has two records to his name in the International Book of Records. A resident of Thiruvananthapuram’s Kulathummal village, he is the youngest person in the world to skydive solo from an altitude of 13,000ft with a prosthetic leg and the youngest paragliding pilot with a prosthetic leg.
THE WEEK first met Kumar at KIMSHEALTH Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, where he had undergone a complicated kidney transplant two years ago. He had come in for a routine checkup wearing a fitted, full-sleeve T-shirt and convertible track pants that can be detached knee down, with the part of the pant below his amputated right leg detached. He wasn't wearing his prosthetic leg, prompting the hospital staff to offer him a wheelchair. “It is totally fine. I can walk. I can run kilometres on my lone leg,”he told the staff, before turning to this reporter with a wink. The puzzled staff, however, insisted on the wheelchair and Kumar accepted it with a smile.
Kumar wasn’t making tall claims though. His life seemed like a rollercoaster ride that only went downhill, but he soared and how. His travails began since birth. “I was born with one leg glued to my buttocks,”said the high-endurance athlete who was born to a manual labourer, Sreekumar K., and a former drawing teacher, Saralakumari S.S. “I had plenty of other issues at birth, including a malformed renal system, a spinal tumour, and congenital scoliosis (a sideways curvature of the spine owing to abnormal vertebral development before birth). I had my first surgery just 19 days after birth.”
Saralakumari, his mother, recalled that she could hold her baby boy only on the 17th day after birth, as he had to undergo numerous tests. “Soon after, he was taken into surgery because he had issues with passing urine,”she said. “Within two months, he had another surgery to remove a layer between his buttocks and leg, which is similar to the webbing on a duck’s feet.”
Wind beneath his wings: Syam Kumar with parents Sreekumar K. and Saralakumari S.S. at their home in Kulathummal village | Sreelakshmi Sivadas Menon
Kumar was soon diagnosed with duplex kidney, wherein two ureters drain urine from a single kidney to the bladder. Normally, it is one ureter per kidney. Kumar had this issue only in his right kidney. Those with this congenital condition are at a high risk of urinary infections. Urinary incontinence, which is leaking of urine because of poor bladder control, is another issue that comes with it.
Since Kumar had been facing issues releasing urine, doctors created an opening from the bladder to the outside of the body when he was just eight months old. “I would keep clothes at the opening,”recalled Saralakumari. “Every five minutes, they would get wet. There would be a load of clothes like that to wash every day. Then, imagine my boy’s situation.”
Flying high: Kumar during one of his skydives in Thailand.
Despite his physical challenges, Kumar was an active child. “He would crawl all over,”said Saralakumari. “When he was one and a half years old, doctors attempted to straighten his leg. This was planned earlier, but because of renal infection, it got delayed. By the time the surgery for his leg was done, it was too late, and doctors could only partially straighten it.”
By the age of five, Kumar had been trained to perform a procedure called clean intermittent catheterisation (CIC), wherein the urine is drained via a catheter inserted into the urethra, past the sphincter and into the bladder. Once the urine is drained, the catheter is removed. CIC is vital for reducing bladder pressure and draining residual urine, thereby preserving kidney health.
Certified adventurer: Kumar with his International Book of Records certificates | Sreelakshmi Sivadas Menon
However, in the schools he attended, the “smelly kid”went through great difficulties. “I was always taunted for my wet pants,”he said, recalling memories of being the lonely kid sitting in a corner of the classroom. “That period was incredibly depressing. I had no friends. People found me disgusting because of my condition and wouldn't sit near me. Even when I was in class five or six, I had to clean my own bench and the areas where I sat after everyone went home. I had to wait until class eight to have a friend. I was so happy, but that person also moved away after some time. It was heartbreaking.”
Saralakumari has been Kumar’s biggest support system right from the beginning. His father struggled with alcoholism in the initial years―though he later overcame it―which added to Saralakumari's burden. “My mother took care of me in every possible way,”said Kumar. “She supported me throughout the journey in ways I can't even imagine now. Despite her efforts, people criticised her, suggesting she should have aborted the pregnancy if she had known the difficulties that lay ahead.”
Kumar, therefore, made the decision to become an amputee out of love and care for his mother. He was all of eight then. “My mother has asthma and had to carry me everywhere in our village, which is a hilly area with difficult terrain,”he explained. “But I could walk on one leg, and I decided to go for it. People often questioned my mother, asking why she allowed the amputation at such a young age.”
Kumar underwent surgeries at regular intervals during his school years to address health issues, including the removal of a tumour from his spine. He had a neurogenic bladder, which refers to urinary bladder problems because of a disease or an injury of the central nervous system or peripheral nerves involved in control of urination. And that led to end-stage kidney disease. By the time he reached class 10, his kidney function had reduced to less than 25 per cent. His bladder wasn't large enough to hold the urine produced by his kidney, and in 2016, he underwent bladder augmentation at a hospital in Bengaluru. He also had surgery to remove his undescended testis at that time.
Dr Satish Balan, consultant nephrologist, KIMSHEALTH, Thiruvananthapuram (in pic, left) | Nirmal Jovial
His life then revolved around the “rooms”of his house, hospitals, operation theaters or school. But then Kumar decided to no longer be boxed in and pushed himself to try new activities, including clay modelling and swimming. It was, however, cycling that propelled his transformation. “One day, while I was sitting inside my home, I noticed a few children playing outside on the road,”he recalled. “They were skidding around with their bicycles, having a lot of fun. I decided to join them. With my artificial limb, I tried to skid just like them. The kids found it very amusing, but it motivated me to show them that I could do it, too.”
He developed a newfound interest in cycling. “Despite financial challenges and relying on my (disability) pension, I saved up for five months and eventually bought a small bicycle,”said Kumar. “I taught myself to ride and over time, I also learned to repair and upgrade it, including adding gears.”
Soon, Kumar started cycling uphill to places like Ponmudi and Gavi. Push-ups and other strengthening activities became part of his routine. During this phase, he also took up mountaineering. “In 2019, at the age of 18, I participated in the ‘Save Alappad’campaign―a protest against excessive beach mining by two public sector companies―and cycled for 230km within 12 hours,”he recalled. “For that long journey, I carried a catheter to urinate. I was bleeding; my urine tube was filled with blood. I also had scratches on my body. But even then, I chose to continue riding.”
Kumar’s kidneys were weak and failing. His creatinine levels were dangerously high, and he anticipated kidney failure at any moment. He enrolled in a psychology degree course at MG College in Thiruvananthapuram, but his worsening kidney issues put a stop to his studies. It did not, however, dent his zeal for a life of adventure. “As kidney failure seemed inevitable, I decided to embark on a journey (from Thiruvananthapuram with no destination in mind) said Kumar. “I wasn't sure how long it would take, but I packed urine bags, catheters and saline water for bladder management over 30 days. Carrying around 20 bottles of 500ml saline and other essentials, I built a carrier for my bike and set off. Within the next six days, I covered over 1,000km despite my deteriorating health.”
But by the time he reached Kannur, Kumar began vomiting, he recalled. “As night fell, I grew very weak and eventually called the police when I started losing consciousness,”he said. “They tracked me down, found me in my room, and rushed me to the hospital. They had contacted my mother using the emergency contact information I had set on my phone's screensaver.”
Soon, Kumar began undergoing dialysis treatment. To facilitate this, an AV fistula―a surgical connection between an artery and a vein―was created in his arm. With an AV fistula, blood flows directly from the artery into the vein, increasing blood pressure and flow through the vein. This increased flow and pressure caused the vein to enlarge, resulting in one hand being noticeably broader and larger than the other.
Dialysis once again confined Kumar to indoor life. A kidney transplant remained the ultimate solution. He found a donor in his mother, and social groups initiated crowdfunding for the transplantation. But there were significant medical risks involved, and not one hospital that Kumar had approached had agreed to do the transplant. Finally, Dr Satish Balan, consultant nephrologist with KIMSHEALTH, Thiruvananthapuram, came on board. Kumar, by then, had already undergone five surgeries related to his kidney problems.
Syam Kumar S.S. | Sreelakshmi Sivadas Menon
“In Kumar's condition, we faced several challenges when he came for the transplant,”explained Balan. “The first issue was [that] he only had one limb. After the transplant, we had to ensure he could walk, which was crucial.”The second issue was related to his primary kidney problem, which stemmed from an abnormal bladder, added Balan. “The bladder's abnormal function caused increased pressure, leading to kidney damage,”he said. “To mitigate this, we needed to ensure the bladder could accommodate a new kidney without damaging it. One approach was bladder augmentation, where we used intestinal tissue to enlarge the bladder. This procedure makes the bladder non-functional, requiring manual urine removal daily. Kumar was already trained for this, which solved half of the problem, as such training is challenging without early initiation and habituation. After the transplant, this procedure would continue to prevent infections in the new bladder and kidney, presenting another hurdle we had to overcome―ensuring the bladder functioned normally post transplant by regularly draining urine through a tube.”
Kumar being a high endurance athlete presented Balan with a third challenge. “Given his involvement in extreme sports and other activities, we opted for a steroid-free transplant,”said Balan. “Steroids can interfere with muscle growth and strength. A steroid-free transplant carries higher risks of rejection and post-transplant complications. However, without steroids, his muscle function and athletic capacity are likely to remain unchanged from before the transplant. Fortunately, Kumar didn't encounter any issues afterward, and we have continued with a steroid-free regimen, maintaining stable kidney function.”
Balan noted that Kumar has shown a positive attitude and has been diligent in following medical instructions and taking medications regularly. “He is also physically the fittest person I have seen, including doctors and patients,”he said.
Kumar did not take it slow after the transplant though. Instead, he decided to skydive, that too solo. “Within three months after the transplant, I began working out and doing push-ups,”he recounted. “I resolved that I had to jump solo. This thought kept me awake for six to seven days straight, fully aware of the risks and medications involved.”
Kumar decided to allocate the remaining funds from his crowdfunding campaign, originally earmarked for his transplant and recovery, towards pursuing this high-risk jump. After thorough research, he realised that he needed a skydiving licence from the United States Parachute Association (USPA). “I spent around four months contacting them, sending hundreds of email,”he explained. “I detailed my journey, described my training regimen, and showcased my progress. However, their initial responses were disheartening as they cited concerns over taking the risk. Eventually, I managed to persuade one of their board members, who requested my complete medical history and certificates. Upon review, he advised that I first try skydiving at a designated drop zone before obtaining the licence.”
Of the many requests Kumar sent, only Skydive Thailand responded positively. Andy Pine, the chief instructor there, assured Kumar of their support, advising him to undergo wind tunnel training before arriving in Thailand. “So, I underwent wind tunnel training, which was quite expensive in Hyderabad,”recalled Kumar. “Hours of wind tunnel training were required to learn how to stabilise the body in the air. Mastering this balance is crucial, involving a deep understanding of aerodynamics where even the slightest finger movement affects stability. Solo skydiving can be daunting; panic can lead to disastrous consequences, from potential blackout due to G-forces (gravitational force equivalent) to the inability to deploy the parachute. The risks are substantial. Despite the health and medication risks, I decided to take the leap.”
Following the wind tunnel training, Kumar travelled to Thailand for his inaugural jump in November 2023. Prior to that, he had to clear a written exam for USPA licence. Additionally, he underwent canopy training and other necessary preparations. When the time came for his first jump, his instructor asked whether he preferred to jump solo or with him. And, Kumar insisted on jumping solo.
Kumar controlled his free fall with the prosthetic limb in the first two jumps safely. But during his third jump, he started experiencing a dangerous spin. “And, when I opened the parachute, it tangled with my leg. Luckily, it was my normal leg, and I managed to untangle the canopy and land safely within a gap of 12 seconds. The instructor then suggested I do more wind tunnel sessions.”
The Thai Police facilitated his wind tunnel training. Following this, Kumar successfully completed three more skydives. During these jumps, he encountered challenges such as unexpected winds, but his quick thinking enabled him to land safely.
However, after these experiences, skydiving instructors informed Kumar that he could no longer skydive with his prosthetic leg because of control issues, particularly as advanced jumps require precise airborne manoeuvres. They advised him to learn to jump without his prosthetic leg. “It is like imagining an airplane flying with one wing,”he said.
Kumar returned to India owing to financial constraints. But his Thai instructor Pine is hoping for his return. “Regardless of whatever he achieved here, one of the things that I noticed is he is a person who has obviously encountered many, many obstacles in his life and never given up his tenacity, his attitude towards life,”he said. “I mean there are so many people who find any excuse not to do stuff and the thing is Kumar has got every excuse and yet it just doesn't seem to faze him; he tries and he pushes himself to his limit. And if only more people would do that, the world would be a far better place…. We will see you when you get back because it is an honour.”
Kumar, on his return to India, started working as a videographer. He also got a drone pilot licence. Later, he received an invitation to participate in paragliding at Bir Billing in Himachal Pradesh, the world’s second-highest paragliding site at 5,000ft above sea level. There, he completed the basic paragliding course (P1 and P2) and became a certified paragliding pilot.
Kumar’s prosthetic leg, which he had on him in Thailand, was damaged recently. Currently, he is using an older version that varies in height, as acquiring a new one would cost around 117 lakh. Despite that, Kumar remains steadfast in his ambition to obtain a skydiving licence. “I have completed only six jumps. I need 24 jumps to qualify for the basic licence [from USPA],”he said, hopeful of finding a sponsor to support his journey. “I will need to train my body and adjust my technique to jump without the prosthetic leg. This will require extensive effort and additional wind tunnel training. Nevertheless, I am pursuing my dream of freefalling from a height of 42,000ft.”
Who needs wings when there’s will!