Blind ex-pilot turns his energy to helping others

In early 1996, Abbas "Bobby" Quamar was a 22-year-old captain with Air India. He had graduated at the top of his class from the Indira Gandhi National Flying Academy, and had been a licensed commercial pilot for two years.
But on March 23 of that year, everything changed. Quamar was landing an 11-seat turboprop in Patna, in northern India, when a vulture flew into the windshield.
Vultures -- common to Patna because of its butcheries -- had hit planes before and usually were sucked up into their engines. This time the Plexiglas windshield shattered, sending shards and splinters into the pilot's face and eyes.
The co-captain managed to land the plane safely. Quamar was transported to a New Delhi hospital, which treated his broken nose and jaw and facial wounds. But with no specialized treatment for his eyes, Quamar lost his sight.
His quest to begin a new and useful life eventually led him to the U.S., and the University of Pittsburgh's School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, where he is working on a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling.
Initial attempts to restore his vision were unsuccessful. The splinters had damaged the retina, the beginning of the optic nerve with its millions of fibers and cells. No medical facility in India had the technology for restoration surgery. The delay in obtaining surgery caused further damage. Scar tissue formed.
He and his father, Mafood Quamar, an anesthesiologist, traveled to Belgium, but it was too late for surgery to be effective. An operation there restored less than 1 percent of his vision - just enough to allow him to see light colors and make out a little bit of shadow.
Now, 15 years later, Quamar says, "My search for a cure or treatment will never end. No stone will be left unturned. But whether I gain that or not, I still need to move forward."
From the earliest days of his recovery, his mother, Bano Quamar, urged him to strive to reach his potential, and that still is his goal.
"I did not want to live a life of mediocrity. I had excelled at aviation and all the sciences, and now it was as if the world was moving at jet speed and I was standing still. I knew that unless I started moving, I wouldn't achieve," he said.
His hometown of Indore in Central India had limited rehabilitation resources. He learned to use computer screen readers and other technology designed for people with vision impairment. He mastered Braille in just six sessions -- the shortest time of any student at that particular center.
His next step was to pursue a degree in tourism studies, but he arrived at an unexpected turning point when Deshraj Arya, the director of a complementary medicine center, told him, "You are a young healthy man. You can help others."
"His comment changed my perspective," Quamar said. "I began to think about what I could do for others, not just what I could do for myself."
He began to study acupressure and worked in Dr. Arya's center for a number of years. He earned a degree in therapeutic massage, worked in London, and then decided to pursue a degree in physical therapy in the United States. After 18 months in the physical therapy doctoral program at Pitt, difficulty with accommodations led him to switch to rehabilitation counseling. He will graduate in 2013.
02/12/11 The Republican

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2011