Ahmedabad, Sep 24: This story is straight out of a bollywood emotional blockbuster with characters destined for a happy ending. It is about a Keralite family living in separation for over a decade, ultimately reunited after patriarch’s open bypass surgery melted everyone’s hearts.

Pius Veeliyactil, 59-year-old, landed alone from Dubai, a fortnight back, at a city-based, CIMS Hospital to get himself treated for cardiac ailment. He had an emergency to get himself operated so that he could go back to work to manage his business. Upon diagnosis, his three arteries were found blocked and needed urgent open heart surgery.

“Since no one was accompanying Pius, we asked him to get his relatives talk to us to convince them to go for an open-heart bypass surgery for a better remedy,” said Dr Dhaval Naik, a senior cardiac surgeon, CIMS Hospital-Ahmedabad.

After many counselling sessions Pius shared the number of his wife based in Kenya which spilled the beans about their stressed family relations for last ten years. Pius’s wife and two adult kids were living separately while he himself was settled for work in Dubai. The hospital management also came to know that global corona lockdowns further broke down their tattered relationship and alienated everyone.

Understanding Pius condition his wife still convinced him to go for an open bypass surgery to get a good remedy. After a successful bypass surgery Pius had video call chat with his wife and daughter. Watching her father after so many years, the daughter grew concerned about her father’s health and decided to visit him at hospital from Mumbai. Her mother also came from Kenya to see him.

Pius son who works as a pilot in Kenya was also informed about his father’s condition. “Initially he was not ready to patch up with his father but finally relented,” added Dr Naik. Pius made his recovery well in presence of his wife and daughter and all three of them flew to Kerala on Wednesday to be with his ageing mother making it a true family reunion. Pius’s son will join the family at later date. A week before World Heart Day (September 29), Pius family became a happy reunited family.