MUMBAI: A 20-year-old college student from Navi Mumbai who beat childhood leukemia a decade ago is facing a fresh medical crisis due to an unrelated genetic condition. The disorder, which manifested recently, puts him at lifetime risk of developing multiple gastrointestinal malignancies, primary among them is colorectal cancer, for which he underwent a preventive surgery recently.Dr Imran Shaikh, consultant surgical gastro-intestinal surgeon at PD Hinduja Hospital in Mahim, who operated on the boy, said Rohan (name changed) still remains at risk of developing at least four other types of cancers in his lifetime. He said that while Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) is usually passed from parent to child, Rohan’s case appears to be a “de novo” or spontaneous genetic mutation, making him the first in his family to have it.However, the condition can now pass from him to his children. “He will need to be under continuous medical follow-up for the rest of his life,” Dr Shaikh said.Rohan had developed hundreds of precancerous polyps across his colon and rectum. To eliminate the near-100% colorectal cancer risk, doctors performed a total proctocolectomy, which involves removing the entire large intestine and rectum.Then surgeons built a new internal stool reservoir (a J-pouch) using his small intestine and reconnected it to his natural tract. “We performed both the removal and the reconstruction robotically. The restoration, especially, is performed as an open surgery in most cases, but we executed it minimally invasively using advanced multi-quadrant robotics. Very few such cases have been attempted in India,” Dr Shaikh added.Rohan will require around six months to fully recover and adapt to his reconstructed digestive system, but other types of cancer, such as those of the small bowel, stomach, thyroid, and pancreas, are still not behind himThe long medical struggle has already dealt a heavy financial blow to the family. Rohan’s father, an employee at the Bombay High Court, said that their health insurance claim was denied. “The insurance company rejected the claim on the grounds of non-disclosure of his childhood leukemia. But the agent had never asked us for those past details when taking the policy,” he said.