“My little baby, Anisa had just learnt to speak. I was excited about every new word she picked. I believed that her words can take away all my sorrows.  But now, instead of encouraging her to speak, I'm forced to keep her calm. Even speaking for a few minutes makes my baby breathless and blue. Everytime she struggles to breath I fear that I might lose her forever,” Yasmin, Anisa’s mother.

Little Anisa thinks that she is in the hospital because of her mischiefs and she can be back home soon

4-year-old Anisa keeps asking her parents why she has to go to the hospital every now and then. She promises her mother never to do any mischief again. Yasmin fails to make her toddler understand that it is not her fault. She doesn’t understand how to tell Anisa that she has a severe heart condition. Little Anisa suffers from Tetralogy of Fallot, a severe heart condition in which the oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood gets mixed. Anisa seemed a healthy baby, until her 2 years and then suddenly, she began falling short of breath.

“My Anisa is a very happy child. She wants to explore every nook and corner of the house. But now I can’t even let her walk much. Arman and I have to constantly carry her in our laps. Even if she walks for 5 minutes at a stretch, her condition scares us. There’s saliva all over and she turns blue completely.”

Arman took up two jobs for his child but that is not enough to save her life

The small family of 3, were very happy in their own small world. Arman thought he earned enough to give his family the basic necessities. After Anisa’s birth, he took up two jobs to give his daughter a better life. Beside cultivating crops, he also drives auto. Even that is no longer enough to save Anisa.

“My husband has a severe speech defect. I have never seen him speak much for all these years. When we came to Bangalore to get Anisa treated, he forced himself to communicate with the doctors. He begged them and cried uncontrollably. It is painful to see him go through this. I don’t know what did we do to deserve this.”

Parents are spending sleepless nights and are desperate to save their daughter's life

Arman has been driving auto for 12-15 hours after Anisa’s diagnosis. For a year now, Arman has barely slept. Yasmin stays awake in the fear that her baby might struggles to breathe at any moment. 

“Our poverty has worsened my child’s condition. We couldn’t even take her to better doctors just because we didn’t have any money. By borrowing, we have been able to spend about a lakh for her treatment. Arman’s earning of just Rs 400 per day is not enough. Right now we are spending Rs 500 per day. The money that we had borrowed is over now. We don’t even know where we will get the money for food. I can go hungry for days, but I need to save my only daughter.”

How you can help

4-year-old Anisa is suffering from a severe heart condition and she needs a heart surgery to stay alive. Overtime work and borrowing are no longer enough to save the little girl. The cost required to save their only daughter is Rs 2 lakhs and they have nothing left with them.

Your support can help the child walk and run again.