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It was the greatest moment of my life when I held my daughter, Anushka, in my arms for the first time. Her birth filled our home with joy and laughter, and gave our lives a sense of purpose and meaning. 2 months passed by smoothly and our baby was happy and healthy as ever. But it wasn’t long before we saw the first signs of trouble.
One night my husband had been playing with our baby, when he suddenly called out to me. The urgency in his tone made me rush to them. He had been holding our baby, but something seemed very different about her. Her head looked visibly bigger, her forehead was larger, and it seemed like her eyes were bulging out.
Having had little to no education or medical knowledge, we had never even heard of such a thing before. “There is fluid accumulating in your baby’s brain”, the doctor told us about her congenital disease. “Her head is expanding because of the excess fluid, and it is also putting pressure on her brain. She needs to undergo surgery immediately, or she will suffer from severe complications.” All of it sounded bizarre and terrifying to us.
None of this made sense to me. “Why us? Why our daughter? Why would God do this to us, knowing we were in no position to get her the help she needs?”, I wondered. But the one thought that really troubled me was, “Is my baby going to die?”. I couldn’t bring myself to ask the doctor this question, because deep down I knew what the answer would be - and if the doctor confirmed it, I wouldn't be able to handle it.
Our days pass us by in a blur, and the hospital has become our home now. We spend each day anxiously waiting for good news, but it never comes. We know that her surgery has been long overdue, and we just wish to free our daughter from this suffering. Having run out of all options, we are reaching out to you for help
One night my husband had been playing with our baby, when he suddenly called out to me. The urgency in his tone made me rush to them. He had been holding our baby, but something seemed very different about her. Her head looked visibly bigger, her forehead was larger, and it seemed like her eyes were bulging out.
Fluid build-up in her brain is causing her head to expand
The local hospital we approached the very next day asked us to take her to a bigger hospital, located 3 hours away from our home in Bhandara. We didn’t waste time, and with whatever money we had in our hands, we left for Nagpur. There we learned that she had something called hydrocephalus.Having had little to no education or medical knowledge, we had never even heard of such a thing before. “There is fluid accumulating in your baby’s brain”, the doctor told us about her congenital disease. “Her head is expanding because of the excess fluid, and it is also putting pressure on her brain. She needs to undergo surgery immediately, or she will suffer from severe complications.” All of it sounded bizarre and terrifying to us.
None of this made sense to me. “Why us? Why our daughter? Why would God do this to us, knowing we were in no position to get her the help she needs?”, I wondered. But the one thought that really troubled me was, “Is my baby going to die?”. I couldn’t bring myself to ask the doctor this question, because deep down I knew what the answer would be - and if the doctor confirmed it, I wouldn't be able to handle it.
Will I ever get to see her walk or talk?
Today, she is 2 years old, but you wouldn’t be able to tell. She is yet to say her first words or take her first steps. She’s not like other babies her age, and it breaks my heart to see her like this. She is the sweetest little baby, and her smile gives me the strength to carry on. The light of our life is being robbed of her childhood, simply because we cannot afford her treatment.How do we arrange for 16 lakh rupees, when we survive on farming?
We get by each day with just 200 rupees in our pockets. My husband has been working himself to the bone just so he can afford her surgery. But even if he were to toil the fields non-stop for the next several years, we still wouldn’t have enough to save our baby.Our days pass us by in a blur, and the hospital has become our home now. We spend each day anxiously waiting for good news, but it never comes. We know that her surgery has been long overdue, and we just wish to free our daughter from this suffering. Having run out of all options, we are reaching out to you for help
