New Delhi: Life had come to a grinding halt for former Indian basketball captain Jagdeep Singh Bains and he contemplated committing suicide following a career-threatening back injury that left him bed-ridden for three years.
The life-changing episode happened during a 3-on-3 tournament in China in 2012 and he simply dropped on the wooden court in excruciating pain, not quite able to comprehend in those fleeting moments what exactly went wrong with his back.
As the 37-year-old once again longingly looks forward to playing for Mumbai Stars in the new Elite Pro Basketball League, he reminisces how a slip disc left him in a vegetative state for three long years.
“It was the worst period of my life, I was almost in a vegetative state, barely able to move. The pain was so much that I couldn’t bear it,” Bains told PTI on Thursday.
The 6’6″ tall centre said his wife was his pillar of strength, helping him through those agonising days when he felt like crying and ending his life.
“I felt like crying. I had almost contemplated suicide because I didn’t want to live like that,” said Bains.
“I was recently married back then and it was my wife who gave me the strength and she was the only reason I didn’t go ahead with committing suicide. I owe her not only my life but everything.” Bains, who has competed in more than 20 international tournaments, including the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and multiple Asian Championships, went under the knife in 2016 and soon got a call from UBA.
He concedes that timely advice on the injury could have helped him recover faster
