Teacher Struggles To Save His 6-month-old Baby From Lung | Milaap
Teacher Struggles To Save His 6-month-old Baby From Lung Infection
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    Baby of Ritu Jha

    from New Delhi, Delhi

“She’s just 6 months old and she’s been on the ventilator twice already. Her lungs are compressed and every day, her breathing becomes lesser and lesser, but I know that we won’t give up without a fight. She is stronger than anyone I know.” – Manish, Ojaswi’s father


Ojaswi holding on to Manish's finger in the NICU

6-month-old Ojaswi was born with a rare but deadly defect

Unable to breathe or even swallow food, 6-month-old Ojaswi entered the world with a rare defect known as congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Simply put, this means that there is a hole in the baby’s diaphragm causing her lungs to get squished because of other organs.

After birth, when we took her home, she wouldn’t breastfeed at all. She would find it so hard to breathe and when she was 2 months old she was already suffering from pneumonia. She had to be put on the ventilator. Seeing such a small baby already fighting for her life is something no parent should go through. It was devastating. Not only that, she also needed feeding tubes because that’s the only way she’d be fed.” – Manish

Ojaswi’s lungs are failing slowly

A hole in the baby’s diaphragm has put so much pressure on her lungs that they’re collapsing slowly every single day. The 6-month-old’s capacity to breathe by herself has dwindled down to a minimum.

Right now, she’s suffering pneumonia again. She’s in the NICU on the ventilator again, and it’s worse than before. She won’t improve unless she’s fed so she needs feeding tubes too. Her diaphragm is also getting injured which is hurting her even more. My wife is so emotional. She can’t bear watching Ojaswi like this, it brings tears to her eyes every time. Only a mother can understand how she feels, it’s just so horrific.” - Manish

Ojaswi cannot survive without a corrective surgery

6-month-old Ojaswi is currently in the NICU and she needs to be there for, at least, 30 more days. After that she needs a corrective surgery. Depending on her condition, the baby might need more than one surgery.
Her condition is so critical that she needs to be stabilized. Ojaswi, simply, cannot have her surgery postponed because she may lose her life.

Manish can’t even afford a day’s charge of the ICU

I hope she has to undergo only one surgery. Right now, just her NICU charges are around Rs. 9000 a day and to stay alive, she needs to be there for over 30 days. Once she undergoes a surgery she'll need to stay there longer. On top of that there are the medicines and other charges that come along. All my savings are gone because we’ve just been in the hospital since February. We’ve even sold jewelry and borrowed as much as we could from our relatives. This is one of the hardest times for us but we will fight. I know that Ojaswi is a strong fighter and I have dreams of her joining the military because she is so strong.” – Manish

How you can help

Manish has spent over Rs. 8 lakhs to keep the 6-month-old baby alive until now. Manish is a teacher in a small village and all his savings have disappeared. Every day he must pay over Rs. 10,000 just so that her daughter stays in the ICU, whereas he earns around Rs. 700 a day. There is no way he can afford such monumental costs, let alone the life-saving surgery Ojaswi needs in the near future. Manish is in dire need of Rs. 7.34 lakhs to save his girl and no matter how strong Ojaswi is, she won’t survive without your help.

Your support will save 6-month-old Ojaswi and ensure that she is able to breathe by herself again.


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