Young Boy With Cancer Begs To Go Back Home To His Mother | Milaap
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Young Boy With Cancer Begs To Go Back Home To His Mother Every Day
  • santhosh.rohith

    Created by

    santhosh.rohith
  • SG

    This fundraiser will benefit

    Selvan Ghana Shyam R.B

    from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Ghana Shyam's (12) first inpatient stay started on Nov 11th and it has stretched to many weeks, and now he is not allowed to go out of the room. While his mother takes care of his elder sister Muthulakshmi (15), who was born deaf and mute, at home, his father takes care of him in the hospital. One day when the doctor came to see him, Ghana asked, "have you ever stayed away from your mother? why are you doing this to me, please let me go home." The doctor then said "While I was studying MBBS, I stayed away from my parents and I didn't see them for a year, but in the end the reward was fruitful. When you leave from here, you'll also be happy." But this little boy is too young to understand why he must stay away from his home and mother. All he wants is to win his argument with the doctor so he can go home, unaware that a long fight lies ahead of him because of cancer. 

The Young Boy Has An Aggressive Form Of Cancer

Shyam grew up healthy and hardly fell sick except for a few episodes of fever. Last month, he got a high temperature and became very weak. He started throwing up everything he had. One day, he had blood stains in his teeth when he woke up in the morning. They took him to several hospitals but the scan reports were negative. They never thought it could be cancer. They believed that life can't be too cruel to him, but then he became very weak, and a blood test was taken. It was just one prick of the needle to take a sample of the blood but he bled for nearly 10 mins. The doctor immediately suggested that he get a full scan and within an hour his parents were told that he has cancer. "It was the most terrifying moment. When I heard the word cancer, our world came crashing down," says Balakrishnan, Shyam's father. Shyam has been diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, an aggressive form of cancer that occurs when a bone marrow cell develops errors in its DNA.




"A lot of thoughts were rushing through my mind, I don't know how to explain it, but I wasn't able to bear the guilt. I don't know whether his suffering is because of our ignorance or it is our fate. He was waiting outside the room when doctors told us this, I don't know how we managed to fight back our tears in his presence." - Balakrishnan.

The family's lives changed drastically

It was a very tough decision for Shyam's mother Pechiammal to stay back at home to take care of her daughter who cannot speak and hear.  Sadly, none of her relatives are willing to take care of her. It was difficult for Shyam too because he had never stayed away from his mother and sister. They had to lie to him and say that he needs a special injection to gain weight, and he has to stay in the hospital for a few days. It has been a month and each passing minute is a turmoil of emotions for all of them, not having the strength to console each other.


An old pic of Shyam

"More than us, Shyam understands his sister. He is close with her and helps her with her lessons. She has not seen him in this 1 month, she will not be able to see him in this condition. All his hair has fallen and he is just skin and bones now." - Balakrishnan.

Muthulakshmi and Shyam

His parents are trying to look ahead with hope

It is a long, painful journey, and it has just started but the family has a hope. Shyam has completed 4 chemotherapy cycles and he can fight this deadly cancer if he continues the chemo cycles. The young boy is not sure why he needs so many tests and injections - he just wants to go home. His parents are praying to God to give them strength to endure this pain.


How You Can Help Ghana Shyam

Shyam's father Balakrishnan works in an account section of a small private company and earns a very meagre amount. He travels by train to Tiruppur every day for his work which is one and a half hours from Coimbatore. He did not go to work since Shyam's diagnosis and has been managing all the expenses by borrowing money. He sold his wife's jewels. He now has to borrow money for even their next meals. He cannot imagine arranging 8 lakh that is needed to continue his treatment.

"My son is waiting desperately to go back home, my wife and my daughter are crying everyday and begging me to do something to save him. In just a month, he has lost all his energy and strength and is in so much of pain. I can't bear to see him like this. What did we do to deserve this? My only hope is crowdfunding. With him, I'm also waiting to return to our 'normal life'.

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