Two failed attempts, husband’s surgery and three children: Linsy finally earns her MBBS at 35

ALAPPUZHA: Dr Linsy had to put her dream of becoming a doctor aside when she got married, but her husband, a police officer who understood her aspirations, stood firmly by her. At 35, Linsy finally turned her dream of earning an MBBS degree into reality. Now, she wants to pursue a postgraduate degree in paediatrics and serve people in her hometown.

Linsy's husband, Sijo Dominic, is a Civil Police Officer at the Ernakulam Control Room and a native of the Thaickal coastal area in Cherthala. Linsy is from Omanappuzha. She had completed her MSc in Botany when the couple got married in 2013.
When Sijo asked her whether she wanted to try for MBBS, Linsy initially thought he was joking. But Sijo was serious. By the time she joined entrance coaching, their son Randheer was only six months old. She left him in her mother's care and stayed in a hostel to prepare for the entrance examination. There were days when she had to pump out her breast milk in tears because she could not feed her baby herself.

Linsy could not secure a seat on her first attempt. Just as she was preparing to repeat the entrance examination, Sijo had to undergo hip replacement surgery. Linsy had to put her studies on hold for two years.
When she joined a coaching centre again, she was two months pregnant. She and her family stayed in a rented house near the coaching centre. That year too, she could not secure an MBBS seat.

At the time, the age limit for MBBS admission was 30. Realising that she had only one final opportunity, Linsy did not waste a moment. It was 2020, during the COVID period. This time, she secured a high rank and gained admission to the MBBS programme at Believers Church Medical College Hospital in Thiruvalla.

She was pregnant with her third child when she joined the course. Her eldest son is now 11. Her other children are eight-year-old Sayanga and five-and-a-half-year-old Tanveer.

‘I never wanted to give up’

Both Linsy and Sijo come from fishing families. Their fathers supported their families by going to sea. During Linsy's years of study, her father's fishing boat was lost at sea, plunging the family into severe financial hardship.
There were days when the family went hungry. Relatives stepped in to help with her educational expenses and also stood by the children during those difficult years.
For Linsy, however, giving up was never an option.