Help 11-Year-Old Gagansree Get Timely Treatment And Survive Cancer

My priority is to educate my children and give them a better life than I had growing up. I’ve struggled a lot and I’ve gone days without food. Very early on I decided I would do my best to make sure that my family doesn’t ever have to suffer the same fate. I work hard to try and keep my family afloat.  My wife and two children are everything to me. Gagansree is my youngest. She’s only 11-years-old so she still likes to spend time with us and not just her friends. I can’t wait for her to grow up and find her place in the world. She’s a quiet, affectionate and sensitive girl. Even as a child, she was never naughty. She studies well and enjoys going to school. She says that she’ll grow up and get a job so that I won’t have to spend my days on the footpath selling lemons. She has many dreams, but her life completely changed 3 months ago.

It all started with a slight fever. A day later we noticed a swelling on the right side of her neck and took her to the hospital to get a few tests. Although we were worried, we never expected it to be life-threatening. The doctor told us our daughter has stage four blood cancer. The reality of the fight ahead of her hit us only when she started treatment and we saw her laying on the hospital bed. She has had 3 cycles of chemotherapy so far, but she has a long way ahead of her. The doctors say that she still needs 6 months of chemotherapy. My daughter doesn’t understand the implications of her disease. The word ‘cancer’ scares her, but she doesn’t know she might lose her life to it without treatment. When I look at her, all I think about is how I’m going to save her. She keeps asking the doctor when she can go back to school again. When she sees all her friends passing by our house on their way to school, she feels bad. I told her that once her treatment is done, she can go back, but I know that’s not the whole truth because I don’t think I can even afford the next chemotherapy.

I’m worried. I know she looks to me to be her strength and make everything fine, but I feel like I’m letting her down every day. I just can’t give up no matter what, It’s my daughter’s life. Sadly, I only earn the bare minimum. Even if I work all day, I will never be able to pay for her treatment. Even though she has stage four cancer, the doctors say she can be saved with treatment. Our poverty is the only thing standing in her way right now.