It was right after new year celebration of the year 2017, when Rajib started showing unusual symptoms. He had back pain and all joint pain. Assuming it to be an after-party effect, his parents didn’t pay a lot of attention and had him take some gastric medications. However, the seemingly minor matter turned into a nightmare for the family. Rajib is only 28 years old.

Gastric medicines helped Rajib to relax for few days, but his joint pain kept worsening. He was even mis-diagnosed with thyroid issue and took homeopathy medicine for another few days. Almost a week passed by, and Rajib became extremely lethargic and dull.  He had blood clot in his eyes. Then, when he got blood in his urine, a series of blood test was performed, which confirmed that Rajib had a blood disorder. He was diagnosed with leukemia. The news broke his family. It was hard for them to believe that their child is suffering from one of the deadliest form of blood cancer.

Rajib was working for a private company for 4 to 5 months before he was diagnosed with leukemia. He had to leave his job to undergo treatment full time. His father was working in a contract job with a monthly salary of Rs 3100.

When Rajib was diagnosed with blood cancer, doctors estimated a cost of around 5 to 6 lakhs for his treatment. Hence his father took voluntary retirement from his job to fulfil the medical expenses. But soon they had to sell their land, as the expenses kept increasing.

Rajib underwent few cycles of chemotherapy (first phase) but his condition did not improve. Then after another series of tests, doctors discovered that Rajib was suffering from the aggressive form of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia(ALL), where the white blood cells in the body get affected. Very few cancerous cells in the body can worsen the case if not treated quickly.

As per Rajib’s doctor, Dr. Prabodh Kumar Das, he needs to undergo eight cycles of high power chemotherapy. The estimated cost of the treatment and medication would be Rs 14lakh

Rajib has completed his first cycle of the chemotherapy (second phase). One cycle cost around 2lakh which is very expensive. Rajib’s family is finding it difficult to pay the mounting medical bills. For them each day is a struggle, a fight to keep their son alive.