BECOMING a top dancer or doctor has long been a dream for Thusha Kamaleswaran.
But in 2011, at the age of five, she was left with devastating spinal injuries after being caught in the crossfire of a gangland shoot-out while playing in the aisle of her uncle’s grocery shop.
Damien McFaddenThusha Kamaleswaran was paralysed due to devastating spinal injuries she suffered at age 5[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationThusha was caught in the crossfire of a gangland shoot-out while playing in the aisle of her uncle’s grocery shop[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationChilling CCTV footage shows the moment Thusha was hit by a stray bullet while playing in the shop[/caption]
It ended any dancing ambitions.
But today, Thusha, 18, reveals her dream of becoming a doctor is very much alive after she won a place at Cambridge University to study medicine.
Thusha, who last month achieved three A* grades in her A-levels, also tells how she will specialise in spinal injuries.
She said: “I might not be able to dance but I’m one step closer to being a doctor like the ones who saved and helped me.
“I’ve never been happier.
“Hopefully I am proof that you can succeed after disaster strikes. I’m so proud of myself.”
In an exclusive interview, she also reveals how she wants to meet the three men who left her wheelchair-bound following the 2011 attack.
All of them were jailed for life in 2012.
Thusha said: “I want to look them in the eyes.
“I want to find out what they have learned from their time in prison and if they understand the consequences of what they did.
“In some ways I forgive them but in others I really don’t. T
“hey robbed me of parts of my childhood.
“I want them to see me, see what I have achieved.
“I want to tell them I’m studying medicine at Cambridge University.
“I want them to see I’m making a success of my life and find out what they are doing.”
Thusha’s ordeal shocked the nation in March 2011.
‘I know how precious what we have is’
Heartbreaking CCTV footage captured tiny Thusha happily doing dance moves in the aisle of her uncle’s shop, Stockwell Food And Wine in South West London, on that fateful evening.
Moments later, three gang members targeting a drug-dealing rival who had gone into the shop opened fire into the store, where her father Sasi was working.
They missed their intended target, but a bullet hit Thusha in the chest, passing through her little body, shattering her spine — and making her Britain’s youngest victim of gun crime.
Thusha said: “My memories from that evening are hazy. I remember being on the floor and hearing the bottles smash.
“That was the intended target crashing into the shelves. I don’t remember the pain.”
An emergency team had to operate in the street to restart her heart, and after being taken to King’s College Hospital she had to be revived again when she went into cardiac arrest once more.
She also suffered extensive internal bleeding.
Thusha added: “I remember being in the ambulance and them talking to me.
“All I can recall saying is, ‘Where’s my dad? Where’s my dad?’.”
The fight to save her took eight hours and surgeons told Sasi, 47, and mum Sharmila, 46, it was unlikely she would ever walk again.
It was a diagnosis they could not bring themselves to tell their little girl for a long time.
Thusha said: “For years they kept that away from me to protect me.
“I was too young to understand what it really meant.
“It must have been really hard for them.
“For a long time all I did was spend time in hospitals, getting treatment, seeing experts.
“I spent so much time there I gained a great admiration for the people who were treating me.
“I even have memories of playing with doctor and nurse toys and role-playing being a doctor.
“That became the thing that I really wanted to do.”
Thusha’s family, including brother Thushan and sister Thushaika, moved to Ilford, East London, shortly after the attack to start a new life.
They installed a stairlift and bought Thusha a mobility scooter so, with the help of her father, she could go to the park and cycle like other kids.
She said: “I had a special bike that I could be pushed on, a wheelchair and a walking frame that helped me to stand up.
“And for a long time, walking was always my dream.”
In pursuit of that hope, Thusha went to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Bucks, for two weeks’ intensive rehab every six months.
She was put through rigorous leg-strengthening exercises and underwent a battery of tests and counselling sessions.
Anthony McCalla was sentenced to a minimum of 14 yearsHandout
HandoutNathaniel Grant was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years[/caption]
Kazeem Kolawole was sentenced to a minimum of 14 yearsHandout
But in between the gruelling sessions, Thusha knuckled down with her school work, eventually achieving top grades in her chemistry, physics and maths A-levels.
She said: “I’ve always loved science.
“I’ve had a fascination with how things like the body work ever since my attack and seeing the incredible people who treated me.
“I also think of things differently to some others since what happened to me.
“I know that I have to make a success of my life and realise how precious what we have is.”
Thusha says she was on a “girls’ trip to Manchester” when she received an email to say she had won a place at Cambridge.
She explained: “I was sitting at a service station and I opened the email and there it was — confirmation of a place at Cambridge University.
“I’d got three A*. I called all my family. I didn’t stop smiling all day.”
Thusha was the only pupil at her state school, Seven Kings in Ilford, to get accepted by Cambridge.
And last week her parents drove her to the university to settle her into her halls.
She said: “It was daunting. For so long I’ve been living with my parents and taken everywhere by them.
“They settled me into my halls and left later on. It was so weird.
“My mum was quite relaxed and chilled, but I think my dad is missing me.
“He is always calling me to check I’m OK. They are so lovely to me.”
‘I don’t want to look back’
Since settling in, Thusha has made friends, enjoyed nights out, attended lectures and is “loving life”.
She added: “I’m learning how to cook for myself and generally live independently like any 18 year old.
“It’s quite exciting, although I managed to burn myself on the first meal I cooked. It was only pasta!”
Thusha says she rarely gives a thought to her attackers other than maintaining her desire to want to go to prison to meet them.
In April 2012, Nathaniel Grant, then 21, Kazeem Kolawole, 19, and Anthony McCalla, 19, were all sentenced to life at the Old Bailey for the shootings.
Grant was told he would serve at least 17 years and Kolawole and McCalla 14.
Sentencing them, Judge Martin Stephens said the crimes were “of the utmost gravity”, adding: “Not one of you has, in my judgment, shown a sliver of remorse.”
At 11, Thusha told this newspaper that she forgave them but now she has a different perspective.
She explained: “It’s maybe too easy to forgive completely.
“I don’t want to look back but they took a lot from me and changed my and my family’s life for ever.
“I think it would be helpful for me to meet them.”
When Thusha turned 18 in July, she was signed off from her regular medical treatments.
She will now only attend yearly check-ups.
She is also in the process of accessing the £500,000 compensation fund she was awarded after her injury, which she is now entitled to.
Beaming Thusha, whose course will run for six years, said: “It feels great to be doing something I have always dreamed of doing.
“My goal is to study hard, and I hope that one day I can be like one of the people who helped me.
“I would really love to get back in touch with some of the specialists who cared for me and tell them I’m trying to follow in their footsteps.
“My ultimate dream would be to be someone who made a difference.
“I would love to help other kids who had what I had and give them the care I was given.
“That would be the dream.”
PAThusha’s parents, dad Sasi and mum Sharmila[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationThe crime scene at Stockwell Food And Wine in South West London[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
