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“None of us adults were around when the accident happened, and the other children were rooted to the spot in shock. A passerby who saw what happened recognised our daughter and came to us, to inform us. When we found her, she was unconscious, with blood smeared across her face, and pooling around her head. I was thrown into a fright seeing her - the state she was in. She had lost a lot of blood by the time we got to the hospital, and I didn't know if she would survive...” - Syed, father
A 4-wheeler ran over her, injuring her gravely
It was a sunny afternoon in December, when Syed and Anjila’s children headed out to the grounds where they would usually play with the other children in the village. The youngest of their children had been playing a few feet away from her brothers, when a 4-wheeler suddenly rammed into her, sending her flying a good distance away. The little girl was so gravely injured that her left eye was completely damaged, while the left side of her face was disfigured.Syed and Anjila’s little one was rushed to a local trauma care in a precarious condition. But as under-equipped as it was, she wasn’t provided the proper care she needed. With a shabby first aid administered to her, she was released from the hospital only 4 days after the accident, and her parents were told to seek help from a bigger hospital.
“They didn’t clean her injuries, nor did they give her any pain medication. They did a very shabby job of treating and stitching her up. We were so scared that her wounds would fester, and so we relentlessly searched for a doctor that would treat her soon. But everywhere we went was a miss. One doctor would say she didn’t have an eye, while another would say her eye was still intact - we were so confused, we didn’t know the way forward. At the same time, we worried about the fate of her eye.. What if she ends up losing her vision forever?" - Syed
Without timely surgery, she stands to lose her eyesight permanently
Nearly 2 months after her accident, Syed and Anjila were advised to take their daughter to a hospital in Delhi. Since it was an injury to her face, and particularly her eye, she would need specialists to treat her. Nervous at the fact that they didn’t have the money to afford a trip to Delhi, they still put their inhibitions aside for the sake of their daughter's well-being and heeded to the doctor's advice.“We begged and borrowed from everyone we knew… We had no choice, because we didn’t have the capacity to treat her in local hospitals, let alone one all the way here in Delhi. The doctors here told us that she would need surgery as soon as possible as her injuries were serious and any more delay would cost her her eyesight. Hearing that, I felt so distraught. What will happen to my child’s future? What if she can’t grow up normally? Who will marry her if she can never see again?” - Anjila, mother
Debt-ridden, this elderly couple has no means to afford their daughter’s surgery
The 3-year-old has already undergone one emergency surgery, seeing as the negligence in the first aid that was administered to her would have caused irreversible damage to her face and eye. But her troubles are far from over. She needs multiple procedures including facial reconstruction, excision of wound, skin-grafting and more, in order to rectify the disfigurement on the left side of her face, followed by which she will be evaluated for further treatment. But Syed and Anjila have no way to afford their daughter’s surgeries.
Syed and Anjila are an elderly couple in their 60s, and are parents to 3 children who are all under the age of 10. After his first marriage ended and left him on the footpath, he married Anjila, who he met by chance nearly a decade ago. Anjila had been the sole income-earner of the family, working as a ragpicker to support the family. However, she hasn't been working since their daughter’s unfortunate accident, as she has to look after the child. The family of 5 lives in deplorable conditions, in a slum in Lucknow, and don’t even have a proper roof over their head.
‘I’m scared that my child will grow up to resent me because I couldn’t get her treated.’
“Everything we have spent so far on her treatment has been with borrowed money. We are drowning in debt and have no money to repay them. So no one is willing to help us anymore.We have been going days without food and sleep. Our worries about our child’s future keep us up at night - I fear that if we fail to get her operated on, she will miss out on life and she might grow up blaming us for not being able to do anything for her… My child is my world, and yet, I can’t do anything for her. Had I had more money, then things would have been different…” - Syed
You are these parents’ last hope. There is absolutely no way they can afford their child’s surgery costing INR 9 lakhs, when they don’t even have enough to afford a single meal for themselves. They are in desperate need of your help.
Click here to donate and help this little girl undergo surgery.
Identity of the child is protected in adherence to government guidelines.
