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“When Ruth was born and it became clear that she was a special child, I will admit that I was scared at first. But Helen promised me everything would be okay, and for 11 years she made sure of that. All this time she has been our pillar of support, keeping this family together. Because I’m at work all the time, in many ways she has been our daughter’s sole source of strength, love, and patience: things a child like Ruth desperately needs.
Now my Helen is in the ICU, unconscious and inches away from death. It’s time for us to be strong for her, our turn to tell her everything will be okay. But the truth is there’s no way I can save her on my own!” — Edison, husband
When Helen was diagnosed with TB last year, it was the most serious medical condition she’d ever had in her life. But medicines seemed to work wonders, and soon it started to feel like a long-forgotten nightmare. The family never imagined that the future had far worse in store for them.
“This January, Helen started having itchy skin. It was just a small spot at first, but then it started spreading all over! We took her to a skin specialist, but then she started having breathing trouble too. We rushed her to a big hospital, where they did all kinds of tests and told us that she has a rare disease that's making her skin peel off all over her body. And to make matters worse, her lungs were nearly 100% damaged too!”
Helen can recover from her condition, but she needs to stay on life-support for the foreseeable future to let the medicines work and let her body heal. It's the only way she can wake up and go home to her loving family.
She’s been on life-support ever since and needs it for months more
As an office boy working 12-hour shifts, Edison is away from home more often than not, spending barely a few hours each night with his wife and daughter. These would be trying circumstances for any mother raising a child, but when the child is differently-abled, it’s a different challenge altogether. It becomes more of a 24x7 job than motherhood already is.
“But Helen never let it show, never seemed stressed or overwhelmed. Always like a fountain of positivity with a smile on her face. I really believe she was a miracle sent to us by God to make our lives better. That’s why it hurts so much to see her like this! I want to make things better for her, but my hands are tied...”
Edison is desperate, and Ruth helpless; they need Helen to come home
“More than 90% of her skin has peeled off. If she wasn’t unconscious right now, she’d be in terrible pain! She breathes through a tube in her neck, and machines are keeping her alive. All we want is for her to get well and come home! I need her, I can’t imagine life without her. And my daughter definitely can’t either. Please, I’ve already spent lakhs by borrowing money, I can’t do anything else. Please help save Helen’s life!”
