“If you look at my baby boy, you won’t be able to hold back your tears. You can count his ribs over his skin, you can see his little heart beating up and down. You can actually see how much pain he is in. There is a hole in his stomach from which urine flows out, he can’t pee normally. He needs surgery to fix that but we don’t even have the means to afford that,” - Khushnuma, mother.

Khushnuma and Nadim’s baby boy, Abu was born with an obstruction in his urinary tract. He can’t urinate the usual way. This is affecting his kidneys and other organs as well. The surgery is the only way he can live a normal life.

For more than a month, baby Abu is in the hospital

Unlike other babies, Abu didn’t have a normal life after he was born. He has only known pain and injections. The poor baby is so weak that he can’t even feed. He is extremely malnourished.
 

“We got to know of his problem when he was in the womb. We were scared but we were told that my baby will be fine with surgery. But now, they are saying that he is too underweight to undergo the surgery. They need another month’s time. This means that Abu has to go through this pain for yet another month - this is all he has known since birth.”

Because of the urinary obstruction, Abu has been in a lot of pain. He cries constantly. His heart starts beating fast when the potassium level in his blood goes high due to the undischarged urine. Now he has severe pneumonia and is in the ICU.

We’ve used up all we had - how can we afford the surgery?

Khushnuma’s husband is a mechanic in Kanpur. He can’t take leaves but he tries to come as often as he can to help his wife. He makes about Rs 5000 a month and now he is working overtime to arrange for Abu’s surgery. Khushnuma is hustling between the hospital and her home in Kolkata, where her 3-year-old son is there.

 

“We are going through a very tough time. My parents are old and they can’t do much. So, it’s just me. I have sold my wedding jewelry and paid some part of the bills. But the daily costs are about Rs 5000 - we need 1.5 lakhs more. Without help, we can never afford this surgery.”

Your generous contribution will help this baby boy