“Doctors said she needs to eat fruits and drink milk every day. An apple costs more than Rs 100 a kilo. I don’t have money to afford this and have resorted to borrowing everyone I know just to feed my sick daughter,”-Bhujang, father of 10-year-old Bhagawati

Bhujang is a poor soya bean farmer from the Marathwada region of Maharashtra where rainfall has been scanty from the past 3 years. As a result, he is able to harvest only 2-3 quintals of soya bean, and earns only Rs 12,000 a year. His daughter, Bhagawati, has been diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a severe blood disease (in which the body does not produce enough new blood cells) recently for which the only cure is a bone marrow transplant. But it costs 33 lakhs – an amount this poor farmer will never be able arrange on time even if he begs everyone in his village.

She is still preparing for her annual exams, unaware that she will not be able to write them

Bhagawati was studying in the 5th grade and preparing for her annual exams when she fell sick all of a sudden last month. High fever troubled her for days altogether and no medicine was helping her. A blood test later revealed that she had aplastic anemia, and she was advised to undergo a bone marrow transplant immediately. Ever since her diagnosis, she hasn’t been going to school as she cannot walk like before or even climb steps now.


Bhagawati loved dressing up in her mom's sarees

“She is weak and bedridden, but is still preparing for her exams. She keeps on telling us she will top in English and Marathi this time – her favorite subjects. When she asks about going to school we lie to her. We tell her she can go back soon. We don’t have the courage to tell her that she will not be able to write her exams this time,”-Asha, mother

Bhagawati is prone to deadly infections now. So she stays indoors most of the time. Every time her platelet levels dip, she needs to be rushed to the hospital. Though she looks ‘normal’ she is very critical.

This poor farmer can save his daughter with your help

Bhujang and Asha named their daughter Bhagawati because they believed that Goddess Lakshmi herself has taken birth in his humble home. She is their only daughter and this famer is ready to go to any extent to save her, but he does not have enough money for it. He borrows money to not only buy his daughter nutritious food, but also to take her to Mumbai from their hometown of Aurangabad. Even her medicines that cost only a few hundred rupees are beyond his reach.

“Nobody in my village is so rich as to lend me 33 lakh rupees. My daughter is running out of time – without the transplant, anything can happen. I can’t take that risk with my only child’s life,”-Bhujang

With your kind help, this farmer can save his one and only daughter by getting her a bone marrow transplant at the earliest