Welcome

My name is Alexis Leon. I am from a small but very beautiful state of India—Kerala. National Geographic Traveler Magazine’s Millennium issue has Kerala as one of the 50 “must see places in a lifetime.”

I live in Cochin, the industrial capital of Kerala. About 12 years back, I met with a road traffic accident that shattered my spinal cord and paralyzed me below chest level. After the accident, I spent about 8 days in the intensive care unit and 10 days in the post-operative unit. In both places, I had some close calls. I went to the brink nearly a dozen times but somehow survived. Those near death experiences entirely changed my outlook towards life.

Spinal cord injury robbed me of all the comforts and conveniences that I took for granted for 27 years—the ability to stand, walk, climb stairs, drive, ride, swim, feel—the list is endless. I can’t go shopping, sightseeing or for a movie. I can’t attend the marriages, the birthdays, anniversaries and other functions of my relatives and friends. I can’t get a job and I can’t do many of my favorite activities.

For a person with a spinal cord injury, every day is a struggle—struggle for survival. It is not easy to live when 80% of your body is not at your command. But I have survived so far, and survived with honor.

I had a fairly interesting life—both before and after the accident. Living with spinal cord injury for more than 12 years gives you a lot of experiences—traumatic, painful, harrowing, touching, wonderful, frustrating, exhilarating, enlightening, saddening, poignant, and stimulating.

In this weblog, I plan to write my views on life, some interesting incidents, useful lessons that I learned the hard way, and other topics that are worth sharing (in my opinion).

I have not set any fixed frequency for the posts. I don’t believe in posting just for the sake of posting. So there will be a post only if I have something worthwhile to say. Time is important—yours and mine.

I request you to post comments, reactions and suggestions. You will have to give your name and e-mail ID to post a comment. Your email-ID will not be displayed in the comment. I request you to refrain from spamming and flaming and well as the use of abusive or obscene language. I will delete such posts from the site.

6 Comments

  1. Thomas said,

    December 18, 2005 at 8:32 pm

    Hello Alexis! I stumbled on your blog and then read your story, and your life now. Hats off to you, I think you will inspire people and that in itself is what we all must do, i am not living in Kerala now, but cochin and its area brings back old memories, do keep up the hard work…….
    I am a dentist .drilling away in Scandinavia.hope to read your blogs and about your life more……..
    regards…..

    with respect thomas

  2. Parameswara Rao said,

    January 17, 2006 at 3:09 pm

    Hi Alexis,
    I accidentally saw ur site when i was trying to find the author of ” IBM Mainframe Handbbok”. Really hats off to you for the courage in life and all the books that u have written.You will always be source of inspiration for anybody who reads your story. I would like to have your personal mail so that i can mail for advice if needed in future. I am working in TCS in chennai!

    Regards
    Param

  3. Chinnu Koshy said,

    February 4, 2006 at 6:44 am

    Hello,
    I stumbled upon your webpage when browsing through a friend’s homepage and it kind of interested me so i hung around for a while…I used to be an OT and did do my internship in vellore,but have never heard of or maintained any contacts with the clients i worked with .so i never have had a chance of following up.Its great to see your outlook towards life and know what you have achieved so far.May God bless and guide you in every step
    Wonder if you have a guest book!

  4. mohammed jensin said,

    February 5, 2006 at 11:35 am

    hai boss
    i’m 2004 passout of cet. hats of to your courage and long live the forces that drives you .i’ve always heard of people from cet works in their first jobs for short spans may be they expect some thing higher which infected them during their cet days.you have choosen your path and the one less travelled by.
    i,ve heard about you from hostel inmates groups of 2004 named mh2004@yahoogroups.com of which i,m a member member .
    thanks for the wonderful descriptions you have given about hostel life

  5. Sakthivel M.A said,

    March 24, 2006 at 6:38 pm

    Hi Alexis,

    My name is Sakthivel from Bangalore. Hope you are doing fine. My friend Abhilash told give your website address and asked me to read. He also mentioned me that you are a real fighter. While he said your name, your name looked familier to me. Later, I had got some time to look at your portal and to read your story. As my friend says, you are real hero, indeed. (I mean it). I always value human lives. It is highly precious. In Tamil, we have one adage. ”It is very difficult to be born as Human; Even if we are born, it is very difficult to be born without any disabilities”. I always feel that Since I have born normal, it is a great asset to me. I have to do something to my society. To be precise, I want to generate employment for atleast 10 people. There is always a quetions in me ‘How can I do this?’. I didn’t find my answer yet. By reading your story, I got inspired. I also happened to be your IBM Mainframe books reader. You are a real hero. Can you help me on ‘How to achieve my dream?’. Thanks and Regards,
    Sakthi.

  6. Praveen said,

    May 15, 2006 at 7:22 am

    You are a GREAT MAN