This 20-year-old man hasn’t been able to sleep properly in the past six years because of his severely bent spine. Girisha C, from Tumkur in the south Indian state of Karnataka, is diagnosed with congenital thoracic kyphoscoliosis. in the last one month, his condition has become worse. He is unable to do anything and is immobilized due to pain.

The man is unable to perform his day to day activities because of his condition. The doctors have advised him to undergo a spine-straightening surgery at the earliest in order to correct the deformity before it is too late. According to the doctors at Bangalore-based Jain Institute of Spine Care and Research, the treatment would cost around Rs 550,000.

Dr Mahesh B H, a consultant spine surgeon, says: “The patient is diagnosed with congenital thoracic kyphoscoliosis. He requires pedicle screws instrumentation, vertebral column resection, deformity correction and fusion with bone graft under intra-operative neuro-monitoring.”

Girisha, from Kalliganahatti village in Tumkur, started to develop a problem in his spine some eight years ago. In 2012, when Girisha’s spine started to bend, his parents took him to local doctors. They asked them to go to a better facility and get him checked there. The family ignored the doctor's suggestions as they couldn’t afford the treatment, hoping that the problem will be fixed on its own.

But that never happened. As there was no medical intervention in his case, Girisha’s spine started to bend with time.

In a year, Girisha dropped out of school and started staying at home. “What little extra money we had was spent on Girisha's treatment. My father said one of us had to drop out of studies. Because his health was bad – Girisha stayed home and I went to study. After that he became very quiet and rarely ventures outside the house,” says his elder brother Veeranna.

 
So while Veeranna and their sister Kavitha went to school, Girisha stayed home and completed detached himself from the society. For a 20-year-old, Girisha is very quiet. He doesn’t want to venture out of the house as people call him “hunched-back man”. The severely twisted back and now it is causing him so much leg pain that he is unable to walk or do any other of his regular daily activities.

Girisha has been living with the condition for over 6 years. His spine is now causing him difficulty breathing and very soon it will affect his heart as well. He also has severe anemia. A surgery will fix his spine and prevent his condition from worsening. Girisha may even be able to get a small job and help his family's financial situation.

Girisha's older brother Veeranna used to be the family's sole earning member. But because he needed to take Girisha to the hospital in the last two months, he lost his job as a shop assistant. Despite the family's dire financial situation, Veeranna is determined that Girisha get treatment this time.

“When his problem first started – no one knew what to do. We went to different hospitals nearby and finally stopped going and Girish never got treatment. Now the doctor is telling us he will get better with a surgery. My little brother has suffered too much already. If it will give him some comfort – we will do anything,” Veeranna says.

Unfortunately, even after he borrowed heavily from his friends, Veeranna could only raise Rs 1 lakh. All the money has already been spent on visiting hospitals and getting all the necessary tests done. Veeranna needs another 5.5 lakhs for the surgery and he has no one to help him arrange the amount.

According to Veeranna, Girisha doesn't cry or complain. He just holds his leg and crouches on the floor with that twisted expression. Grisha mother Kariyamma, 55, says: “After seeing him that way, my mind can't find happiness in anything else. IN the past few months, his condition has been deteriorating. Earlier he could walk, but now the condition has crippled him completely. The problem is such that my boy is unable to sleep even.”

“We don't have that much of money. We cannot even earn that much. We begged before family, friends, acquaintances and strangers, but nobody gives a damn about the pain of aggrieved poor parents. We have visited several hospitals and pleaded them to treat our case on compassionate grounds. Unfortunately, no one understands our pain. Now, we have no option but to see our boy wither away in the prime of his youth. If people cannot be treated money, why does god even give diseases to poor people. Maybe this is our fate and we have accepted it,” said Girisha’s father Siddappa, 62, who used to work as a porter.

Gireesha doesn’t resemble any traits of 20-year-old. He is always grimacing and groaning in pain.