Man builds fully-functional miniature toy jeep for 10-year-old leukaemia survivor in southern India

Man builds fully-functional miniature toy jeep for 10-year-old leukaemia survivor in southern India

A 35-year-old nurse at Idukki District Hospital from southern India's Kerala has gone the extra mile for one of his patients.

In January 2020, Arun Kumar Purushothaman built a fully-functional miniature Jeep Willys for a 10-year-old leukaemia survivor.

Hailing from a family of carpenters, he learned the art of carpentry at a very young age.

"When I was a small child, I used to ask my parents for toys, but they couldn't afford it.

I remember, they got me an old tricycle from the junkyard.

Every evening I would ride it and probably that inspired me to be who I am today," he commented.

"When I was 15 years old, I won a state medal for building a miniature excavator," he said.

"I got free admission to a nursing college for my good grades, and I became a nurse.

Even when I was studying nursing, I used to make pieces of furniture.

While my ongoing nursing class, I finished an entire kitchen cupboard for my client." Purushothaman made his first fully-functional miniature toy jeep, for his son, Madhav Krishna, in January 2019.

Following this, he made a battery-operated tricycle for his daughter Keshini Krishna.

Purushothaman then made a fully-functional miniature toy jeep for Amruthesh, a leukaemia survivor.

"Being a nurse, I could not ask for any money from his family.

I posted on Facebook, asking for people to help me financially.

Few of my friends came together and crowdfunded the project," he added.

He finished the project within seven months in January 2020.

Built with metal plates from a real jeep, the operational toy runs on a 24V DC motor, weighs around 75 kilograms, and can run for about four hours on a complete charge.

Arun is currently on duty, tending to coronavirus patients while slowly making plans for his new business.

"I want to start a small-scale business of making miniature toy cars.

Currently, I am planning to work on a full-size four-wheeler battery-operated vehicle for my personal use."