SINGAPORE — For years, Suresh Vanaz Purushothaman carried his younger brother Gunaseelan through crowded streets, temples and even up the steep steps of Malaysia’s Batu Caves.
He helped him eat, bathe, dress and get around. He brought him on holidays, entertained him and built a life around making sure his brother — who had cerebral palsy — could experience as much of the world as possible.
Now, that lifelong routine has suddenly ended.
Gunaseelan, 42, died on Aug. 29, leaving behind a brother who had spent most of his own life caring for him.
CNA reported that Gunaseelan developed a fever and experienced seizures before dying in Suresh’s arms. AsiaOne separately reported that members of the family said he died from pneumonia. His brother had earlier described the death as a sudden loss.
For Suresh, 47, the loss is more than the death of a sibling. It means losing the person who had shaped his identity, his routines and much of his purpose since childhood.
He started caring for his brother when he was only seven
Gunaseelan was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of three.
Suresh was about seven at the time, and he gradually became involved in caring for his younger brother. Their parents later divorced, and the brothers lived with their mother.
When their mother died from an illness in 2009, the responsibility of caring for Gunaseelan fell largely on Suresh.
CNA reported that Suresh recalled helping with tasks such as changing diapers, feeding his brother and taking him to school while also trying to continue his own education. He even worked at a coffee shop as a child to help with the family’s needs.
What could have been an overwhelming responsibility became, in Suresh’s eyes, an expression of love.
He did not describe his brother as a burden.
Instead, he saw caring for Gunaseelan as his responsibility as an older brother.
Their annual Batu Caves journey became a symbol of their bond
The brothers became widely known for their extraordinary Thaipusam tradition.
For years, Suresh carried Gunaseelan during religious celebrations, including taking him up the 272 steps of Batu Caves in Selangor, Malaysia.
AsiaOne reported that Suresh had been carrying Gunaseelan during Thaipusam-related journeys for more than a decade. In 2025, he carried his nearly 70kg brother during a four-kilometre procession in Singapore.
The Batu Caves climb was particularly demanding.
But Suresh said the physical difficulty became secondary when he saw the happiness on his brother’s face.
The brothers had also travelled together to places including Thailand, India and Indonesia. According to CNA, Suresh even carried Gunaseelan up the Batu Caves steps almost every year and had hoped to take him to Australia in December.
Those plans will now remain memories.
From viral confrontation to caregiver advocate
The brothers also became known to a wider Singaporean audience after a December 2024 incident at VivoCity.
A video of an altercation involving Suresh circulated online after he accidentally bumped into another man while manoeuvring Gunaseelan’s wheelchair out of a crowded lift.
The incident sparked discussion about disability access, public attitudes and the pressures faced by caregivers.
Suresh subsequently used the attention to speak about the everyday difficulties experienced by people with disabilities and those who care for them. CNA reported that he viewed himself as an advocate for people with disabilities and caregivers.
Earlier interviews also revealed the financial and emotional pressures behind his caregiving responsibilities.
In a 2025 interview with RICE Media, Suresh spoke about the difficulty of balancing work, household expenses and his brother’s extensive care needs. He argued that caregivers often require more practical support, particularly when full-time employment is difficult or impossible.
His brother was also the reason he became an entertainer
Suresh’s relationship with Gunaseelan went far beyond caregiving.
According to CNA, Suresh became an emcee and dance choreographer partly because he loved making his brother laugh.
As children, he would pretend to be a television host to entertain Gunaseelan. Later, when he performed professionally, his brother remained the person he most wanted to make smile.
Money from his entertainment work also helped pay for his brother’s needs and their trips together.
That makes the loss especially difficult.
Suresh now has to imagine a future without the person who had been at the centre of nearly every major decision in his life.
“Now I’d have to wear these clothes alone”
At his brother’s wake, Suresh was surrounded by reminders of the life they shared.
Photographs of the two brothers filled Gunaseelan’s room. Their belongings remained there, including his favourite sunglasses and Spider-Man and Transformers figurines.
CNA reported that the brothers often wore matching clothes.
As Suresh prepared clothes for his brother’s cremation, he reflected on the fact that he would now have to wear them without him.
He also spoke about the ordinary routines that had once seemed permanent — helping Gunaseelan shower, brush his teeth, shave, use the toilet and change his diaper.
Those responsibilities had consumed much of his life.
Yet Suresh said he never grew tired of caring for his brother.
What hurts now is that he can no longer do it.
A caregiver left to rebuild his own life
Suresh has said he does not know how he will handle the loneliness that follows his brother’s death.
He also told CNA that he may no longer want to perform or entertain as he once did.
But even in his grief, he hopes Gunaseelan’s life will continue to mean something to other families.
He wants to keep advocating for people with disabilities and the caregivers who support them, while sharing what his brother taught him about love, responsibility and the value of life.
Gunaseelan’s death has therefore become more than a story about a man with cerebral palsy who passed away at 42.
It is also the story of an older brother who spent decades making sure his younger sibling could experience life — and who must now learn how to live without the person he had spent almost his entire life protecting.
For years, Suresh carried his brother up the steps.
Now, for the first time, he has to find a way forward without him.
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