“He used to love going outside, but now he’s scared to leave the house. Because, over the past few months, my son hasn’t seen anything but hospitals, needles and endless pain! As terrified as he is, when he sees me cry, he's the one wiping my tears. My son is so kind and caring, but he has known only pain.”
– Pandimeenal.

Little Mukesh was born with severe jaundice

“It was all laughter when we first brought him home. But just a few days later, seeing him in the ICU with needles pricked on his yellow skin and struggling to breathe, knocked the life out of us. We were very scared. In our village, nothing like that ever happens. He suffered then. But now, it looks like he’ll suffer all through his life!” -Pandimeenal, mother.

He has survived on blood transfusions so far, but can't any longer

One day, Mukesh was struggling to breathe and he could barely stand. When his parents rushed him to the hospital, they said his haemoglobin count had dropped too low. When his blood tests came, he was diagnosed with Thalassemia major – A condition where the body can’t make enough blood and the person suffers chronic fatigue due to the decreased supply of oxygen. If left untreated, the disease could kill their son, they were told. Thus, at 8 months, it was a question of life or death.

“We took him to the hospital thinking it was something small. But he had to get admitted for 20 days. Every month since then, he’s been getting a blood transfusion to survive. We have traveled far and wide, all in search of blood. But there still have been months when the transfusion got delayed because of the unavailability of blood and he would become weak. At 6 years now, struggle is all he's seen in life!” – Malaimehu, father.

"I want to go to school. I don't like hospitals" - Mukesh.
 
It has been years of transfusion now, and Mukesh’s veins have thinned down. Repeated pricking has left his arms with marks and bruises. So now, the transfusion happens through his abdomen and he is very scared. When Mukesh was diagnosed with the disease, he was no more than an infant. He did not understand things. But now he has questions. He does not understand why he needs to visit hospitals so frequently. He doesn’t know why he can’t run around for too long, or why he gets so tired. He tries to cope up, to be like the other kids in his school, only to realize he can’t.


  24 hours is all he has to get the transplant

“They’d told us that repeated transfusion could increase the iron content and damage organs. But there was no other way, we had to take the risk. And now, after all this time, there’s hope. They’ve told us that a bone-marrow transplant could end his sufferings and give his life back to him! But it has to be in the next 24-hours!” – Pandimeenal.

Malaimehu is a labourer who works for daily wages. With his income being no more than Rs. 400 a day, he’s struggled to afford Mukesh’s transfusions till now. All the jewels are sold and the savings, empty. This bone-marrow transplant is their son’s only hope. The cost amounts to 20 lakhs and they need help.


Without the transplant, he'll be living on borrowed time

“It’s been two months since he got admitted. I want to take him home soon. But without this transplant, he’ll be fighting death every day! He needs the transplant in the next 24-hours, to avoid complications. He's getting worse, and I can't think! I have run out of funds for I’ve not gone to work for months now. Anything you contribute will make a huge difference to us.”- Malaimehu.

Till now, All Mukesh has seen is a life full of struggles. Your contribution can help him live a healthy, carefree life.