What: An appeal for financial aid
Why: We need money for my father's heart operation in a good, private hospital
How much : Roughly INR 6 lakhs

I am Sweta Kumari, a Young India Fellow from the Class of 2016.

We were a happy family of 5 till March 25, 2007. When our mother left us, succumbing to cancer in 2007, my dad, Mr. Srikant Prasad held all three of us together and promised us that he will do everything in his capacity to support us.

Family and friends tried to convince him to remarry, but he strongly refused, saying his life now surrounded his children. Dad stayed back in our home which is located in a small village in Jharkhand, managed his own food, worked in our shop as a watch mechanic, but never let any of his worries be a hurdle in our education. It was him, who against all the odds and family opposition, stood strongly for me and let me move to Bangladesh, all alone at the age of 16, so that I could peruse higher education. Neighbours suggested to him, “She is your only daughter. Why are you sending her away? Who will cook for you or take care of you?” Dad said, “I do not own her, and if she has managed a scholarship solely on her merit, who am I to stop her?”

When my younger brother got admitted to National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and required a huge amount of money, Dad even planned to sell the house and shop, determined to send my brother to college regardless of his inability to pay. Dad has been like this tree for us under whose shade we have always felt protected and supported.

We were too young when Mom suffered Cancer and was admitted in AIIMS, New Delhi for months. We couldn’t save her because her disease had no cure. BUT DAD can be cured, and SHOULD be cured. It’s true that money cannot bring happiness, but money in this situation can make Dad healthy, and make my entire family, who are facing immense emotional as well as financial crisis at the moment, happy. 

This is a humble appeal to all of you to come forward and help save my father’s life. We don’t have the financial resources to afford this expensive heart operation right now and any delay will further worsen his condition.

Dad has been diagnosed with a critical heart disease and needs a double valve replacement. Two of his heart valves need complete replacement while the third one will be repaired. It is going to be major surgery and the operation risks are also high. Only specialist heart surgeons can be trusted with this kind of surgery. He is my father, hence I am willing to take the risk and go forward with the operation in a private hospital. This advice came from all CTVS (Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons) from hospitals like G B Pant Hospital, Medanta, Escorts Fortis, Metro Heart Institute, and Jaypee Hospital, Noida.

My father was first admitted to G B Pant Government Hospital in New Delhi. But after 3 months of bureaucratic delay and all the accompanied frustrating process, the surgeon there told us that he had never done such a complicated surgery and hence was not sure about the case. We had to get Dad discharged immediately and referred to a private hospital.

The average cost of getting him operated in a good private hospital is around INR 6 lakhs (USD $ 9000). 

I hope to be able to reciprocate and be there for each of you in whatever capacity permissible when I’m capable enough of doing so. Do contact me via phone/email or Facebook in case you have any questions. My contact details are as follows -

Name: Sweta Kumari
Phone: +91-7835855312 (Calls) +91-8222940515 (WhatsApp) 

Email ID : sweta.kumari@yif.ashoka.edu.in
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/sweta.kumari.395

Thank you so much in advance for your kind support.