Mumbai: For a girl who could not even hold a pencil, Priyanka D'Souza, 15, has done remarkably well to score 95.8% in her Std X ICSE exam. The student of Villa Theresa School in Breach Candy was suffering from paralysis and could not attend classes for over two hours for the past few years.

Priyanka suffers from Guillain-Barre syndrome, which produces muscle weakness that leads to paralysis. She lost control over 50 per cent of her body after she was diagnosed with the disorder in 2005. She could not open her eyes after going through three bouts of malaria at the time.

What made matters worse was that Priyanka had pneumonia some weeks before her exam. But the Haji Ali resident battled every adversity. D'Souza said "I studied hard, but only as much as I could."