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Ayush is the smart charming boy, the single child of our friends Anil and Alka. His charming character from his childhood onwards caught everybody's attention in a little span of time. Everything was quite normal in their life until the month of May, 2021, just a month after he turned six years old when Ayush’s parents started noticing a small lump on his stomach accompanied with stomach pain. They recollected the past few days where Ayush’s appetite was low and his frequent episodes of fever. His parents took him to the doctors nearby and they suspected something abnormal because of the lump on his stomach. The various diagnostic tests on the coming days assured their suspicion and brought the most devastating news for the family on 5th of June, 2021. He was diagnosed with High-risk Neuroblastoma with a large mass on his left adrenal gland and around his kidneys.
Neuroblastoma is one of the rarest cancers occurring in children which takes an aggressive form in a short period of time and has a poor prognosis. Most of the children getting diagnosed would have reached the final stage at the time of diagnosis as the symptoms started showing up at a later stage and also the chance of relapse is too high. Adding to this, his genetic tests revealed that his MYCN gene was amplified which accounts to a faster growth of his cancerous cells compared to those children where the gene is not amplified. This was again an additional concern for Ayush’s family. The situation was critical at that stage, but Ayush's parents tried to stay strong for their only child with the help of their family and friends.
Ayush started getting the treatment for Neuroblastoma as per the standard protocol followed in India. He underwent 7 cycles of chemotherapy and surgery. He had undergone an autologous bone marrow transplant on 25th December, 2021 and is still in the transplant unit. He is now in an immunocompromised state as the effect of his transplant. His food intake is very minimal and has frequent vomiting due to mucositis affecting his digestive pathways, again as a side effect of transplant. Now the doctors are waiting for his new stem cells to recover back to an acceptable count so that he can be discharged out of the transplant unit.
Ayush has to undergo his radiotherapy afterwards. Expert doctors have suggested that immunotherapy will increase the chances of survival of Ayush. Unfortunately, immunotherapy medicine is not available in India. Doctors have suggested Ayush’s parents an option of importing the immunotherapy drug to India and if they succeed, the doctors can help them with the administration of the drug and thus the survival rate of Ayush can be increased. Ayush's parents would really like to import the drug to India, but the financial status of the family is already in an unstable condition due to his current treatment during the past eight months. They are not able to afford anymore and this is why we would want to help them in their journey to see their child leading a normal life like his peers.
Little Ayush is getting frustrated with the treatment so far especially when he is almost confined to his bed and to the room with a very minimal daylight coming in. The only people he is able to see directly are his mother and the minimum number of health workers and the caretakers of the hospital. His mother, Alka is not able to hug him with her whole heart during these days fearing the infections she might pass to her immunocompromised child. She is having sleepless nights in the transplant unit seeing her kid suffering a lot and also because of the thoughts about arranging funds for Ayush's immunotherapy. Anil is able to communicate with Ayush only through phone and is hoping to see his son in person soon. Anil and Alka are usually not the ones who ask for help, but times have become incredibly challenging for them because of this condition. Along with Ayush's family, we want to see the charming Ayush again entertaining his family and friends at the end of this miserable journey he is leading right now. Importing immunotherapy drugs is an essential step for this hope of us to be alive. So we humbly request all of you to pray and support Ayush and his family to cross this journey and come to a happy ending
Neuroblastoma is one of the rarest cancers occurring in children which takes an aggressive form in a short period of time and has a poor prognosis. Most of the children getting diagnosed would have reached the final stage at the time of diagnosis as the symptoms started showing up at a later stage and also the chance of relapse is too high. Adding to this, his genetic tests revealed that his MYCN gene was amplified which accounts to a faster growth of his cancerous cells compared to those children where the gene is not amplified. This was again an additional concern for Ayush’s family. The situation was critical at that stage, but Ayush's parents tried to stay strong for their only child with the help of their family and friends.
Ayush started getting the treatment for Neuroblastoma as per the standard protocol followed in India. He underwent 7 cycles of chemotherapy and surgery. He had undergone an autologous bone marrow transplant on 25th December, 2021 and is still in the transplant unit. He is now in an immunocompromised state as the effect of his transplant. His food intake is very minimal and has frequent vomiting due to mucositis affecting his digestive pathways, again as a side effect of transplant. Now the doctors are waiting for his new stem cells to recover back to an acceptable count so that he can be discharged out of the transplant unit.
Ayush has to undergo his radiotherapy afterwards. Expert doctors have suggested that immunotherapy will increase the chances of survival of Ayush. Unfortunately, immunotherapy medicine is not available in India. Doctors have suggested Ayush’s parents an option of importing the immunotherapy drug to India and if they succeed, the doctors can help them with the administration of the drug and thus the survival rate of Ayush can be increased. Ayush's parents would really like to import the drug to India, but the financial status of the family is already in an unstable condition due to his current treatment during the past eight months. They are not able to afford anymore and this is why we would want to help them in their journey to see their child leading a normal life like his peers.
Little Ayush is getting frustrated with the treatment so far especially when he is almost confined to his bed and to the room with a very minimal daylight coming in. The only people he is able to see directly are his mother and the minimum number of health workers and the caretakers of the hospital. His mother, Alka is not able to hug him with her whole heart during these days fearing the infections she might pass to her immunocompromised child. She is having sleepless nights in the transplant unit seeing her kid suffering a lot and also because of the thoughts about arranging funds for Ayush's immunotherapy. Anil is able to communicate with Ayush only through phone and is hoping to see his son in person soon. Anil and Alka are usually not the ones who ask for help, but times have become incredibly challenging for them because of this condition. Along with Ayush's family, we want to see the charming Ayush again entertaining his family and friends at the end of this miserable journey he is leading right now. Importing immunotherapy drugs is an essential step for this hope of us to be alive. So we humbly request all of you to pray and support Ayush and his family to cross this journey and come to a happy ending
