“We couldn’t even hold our daughter for the first 2 months after birth. Ever since she’s entered the world, she has been on life-support fighting for survival. Every single day, we’ve been very stressed thinking if she’s going to survive the next few days or not, and if she does, will she ever be normal?” - Shreya 

Born 3 months premature, Shreya's baby weighed less than 500 grams at birth. Not many of such dangerously underweight babies have survived before. Through months of life-support, this little one beat the odds of survival but all the efforts will be in vain unless she is able to get 3 additional weeks of treatment in the NICU so that she can breathe by herself for the first time.


Shreya and her daughter in the NICU

Everyone was unsure if this baby would survive

“Right after birth, the doctor told me that in the next 48 hours, anything can happen but there are high chances that she wouldn’t survive. Even if she survived, I was told that she could be disabled in some way because she might not be able to grow. I couldn’t even eat those days and Shreya couldn’t walk too. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a frightening situation in my life.” – Santosh, Shreya's husband

Due to Shreya’s abnormal blood pressure, the baby’s heart was failing inside the womb and would die if the baby remained there. Apart from being born within just 26 weeks of pregnancy, the baby also weighed only 455 grams at birth, which is dangerously low.

Shreya’s baby is strong but still critical

“Until she weighed 1 kg, her condition was just deemed critical. She didn’t hit that mark up until 2 months after birth, even though she was on life-support this whole time. Watching so many pipes on her small and fragile body was so disheartening. Even after this, she is unable to breastfeed and needs life-support for at least 3 more weeks. She’s a strong fighter because the doctors said that they’ve never seen such a lightweight baby survive.”

Shreya’s daughter, who hasn’t been named yet due to her initial low chances of survival, still needs oxygen support to live and oral feeding to gain more weight.

Shreya needed 4 years of treatment to bear a child

Married for over 8 years, Shreya and Santosh have failed every time they tried to conceive. To address this, Shreya had to undergo several procedures and take many medicines for over 4 years.

“Every time someone would ask her if she had a child or not, she’d feel so bad. I told her to remain strong. Finally, after years of struggle we’ve been able to give birth to our first child but for the longest time, I felt like the child would be taken away from us. Now, I see her open her little eyes sometimes and smile. This has given me hope.” – Santosh

Santosh and Shreya

How you can help

Apart from helping his wife and child at the hospital, Santosh still manages to go to work and run around from one place to another every day. Santosh earns around Rs. 900/day but to keep his baby alive it costs anywhere between Rs. 7000 – Rs. 10,000 on a given day. He has already exhausted Rs. 3.5 lakhs. He needs another 15 lakhs to fulfill the outstanding bills and get his baby through recovery. Santosh can’t afford this but is desperate to save his daughter.  

“Each day spent at the NICU costs around Rs. 5000, just for the bed. The baby is given so many medicines and undergoes procedures daily which adds to the cost. It’s so hard to afford all of this, but this is the only way she’ll live.” - Santosh

Your support will save baby of Shreya and will ensure that she smiles again.