Terminally-ill Iqaluit youth raising money for trip of a lifetime

Yugh Ahuja with his parents, Dushyenth Ganesan and Pooja Ahuja. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

Yugh Ahuja with the Annie Nauyuk Perseverance Award from Inuksuk High School. (PHOTO COURTESY OF DUSHYENTH GANESAN)

Yugh Ahuja likes to keep up on current affairs, especially when the news has to do with Donald Trump.

One time, Ahuja got to ride a Ferrari in Las Vegas. He has a poster of a red Ferrari in his living room.

When he’s home, the 17-year-old plays PS4, watches wrestling, and tries to keep up on cricket matches. Cricket was his favourite sport when he lived in India. But there isn’t a lot of cricket on TV in Iqaluit.

Three years ago, Ahuja moved to the Nunavut capital from New Delhi.

And yet, he’s never been through the doors of the Northmart or Arctic Ventures stores, and he isn’t able to use the new aquatic centre.

That’s because Ahuja suffers from a severe type of degenerative disease for which there is no cure, called Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD. It’s a terminal illness.

The genetic illness started showing up when he was only seven, when he found then he had trouble walking up flights of stairs. Eventually he couldn’t walk up the stairs anymore.

In the fall of 2016, doctors told Ahuja he could expect to live for only two or three more years.

“It’s all good,” Ahuja said on a Saturday afternoon at his family home on the Road to Nowhere.

Ahuja is quiet, but obviously sharp, and can easily chat and shake your hand.

Still, right now his heart only works at about 20 per cent of the rate that it used to.

And because he can’t spend more than three hours in a pressurized airplane, he can’t fly home to visit his cousins in India. He keeps in touch with them anyway.

Ahuja does fly to Ottawa regularly for medical trips, and this summer, he’s hoping to fly to a concert in Vancouver, to see a performance by his favourite actor and Bollywood star, Salman Khan.

“He’s the Tom Cruise of Bollywood,” said Ahuja’s father, Dushyenth Ganesan.

That’s why Ahuja’s parents, supported by Inuksuk High School and the Iqaluit District Education Authority, are starting a GoFundMe page and will be doing 50-50 raffles in the coming months to raise $8,000, to help pay for Ahuja’s plane ticket to that concert and to raise money for Ahuja to attend summer camp on his own in Toronto.

Doctors expect Ahuja’s condition to worsen, at which point he won’t be able to live at home.

“We’re trying to give him the best experiences before that,” said his mother, Pooja Ahuja.

But the parents have found it financially difficult to cover travel to the concert for the whole family, because Ahuja can’t go to the concert alone.

A lot of Ahuja’s medical needs aren’t covered: for example, a $5,000 machine that he uses to help him cough.

It takes a lot of time for Ahuja to do regular activities like get ready for the day, or go out to a movie, but he makes a point of attending school every day.

He likes science classes the most. He’s currently working on a project about food waste in Canada.

“Nunavut is not set up for this type of care,” Ganesan said. “It’s not a very accessible town,” he added.

But staff at Inuksuk High School have made “extraordinary efforts” to ensure Ahuja’s learning isn’t hampered, his parents said.

Ahuja was recently recognized by the high school when he received the Annie Nauyuk Perseverance Award.

He has his own small version of the trophy, and now has a gold nameplate on the large award given to an Iqaluit high school student each year.

He’s also landed a summer job, where the Grade 12 student will be working in data entry at the Ilinniapaa Skills Development Centre in Lower Base.

Should he ever feel discouraged, Ahuja said he says a prayer—which he also recites each day at 2 p.m.

The Hindu blessing speaks of happiness in life, selflessness and the good that can be found in others.

If you’d like to hear more about Ahuja, or if you want to donate to his fundraiser, you can contact Inuksuk High School or the Iqaluit District Education Authority.