Latheesha Ansari, who wrote the civil service exams in 2019 with an oxygen cylinder in Kerala, passed away in Pala on the morning of June 16. She was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) or brittle bone disease, a rare genetic disorder. She also suffered from pulmonary hypertension (a type of high blood pressure), for which she needed a portable oxygen concentrator. Latheesha was 27 years old.
"She has been unwell for a while and was admitted at the Pala hospital. She was a real fighter," says Latha Nair, founder of Amrithavarshini, a charitable society for OI, of which Latheesha was an active member. Two years ago, when Latheesha travelled from Erumely in Kottayam to Thiruvananthapuram to write the civil service exam, her family carried an oxygen cylinder all the way. Her father Ansari had then told TNM that the new condition (pulmonary hypertension) made it necessary for her to have a steady supply of oxygen or she could not talk or eat.
Latheesha also had other interests — she painted and played the keyboard. She used to often appear in music shows on television to play the keyboard. She would then present her glass paintings to musicians. She also maintained a Youtube channel.
Watch: Latheesha's tribute to SPB
The first school she had applied to, denied her admission because of her birth condition. However, two years after she started her schooling in another school, the first school called her back. Latheesha pursued her Bachelors and Masters in Commerce at the MES College in Kottayam. Her father would lift her and take her to classes in school and college. It is later that a doctor in Canada gifted her an automatic power wheelchair.
Latheesha had temporarily worked in a bank for a few months, but she developed pulmonary hypertension and had to stop. She used to take classes online for children with disabilities who found it difficult to get out of their homes.