“We were so close. We thought we had saved our 4-year-old son from an untimely death. But now he’s sick again, nearly worse than before, and I don’t know if he’s going to make it. I can’t lose my son, I can’t, I can’t…”

– Jameela, mother of Mustafa, weeping

It had all started when Mustafa was just 6 months old

Poor Mustafa’s cure soon became his curse, and his father had to take drastic steps to save his son

“Late last year, doctors told us that the repeated blood transfusions were greatly damaging my Mustafa’s insides, especially his kidneys. He needed a Bone Marrow Transplant to stop further damage and cure him once and for all, but the cost… the cost was so high. I ended up using my life savings, taking loans, and even relying on my local community’s donations. But it still wasn’t enough so I sold my house and almost everything in it, and even my small dry-fruits shop. Finally I had just enough to put my 3-year-old through the transplant in May.”

– Abbas Ali, father, wiping a tear

But it did not work

Within just a month of the surgery, it became clear that Mustafa’s body was rejecting the new bone marrow. He started getting extremely sick and had to be readmitted into the ICU. Doctors revealed to the miserable parents that their son needed 24x7 intensive care for at least another month or two. Without it, he may not even have a few weeks left to live. But the prolonged care costs almost as much as they spent on the surgery itself, and this family has nothing left to give.

“After selling our house in Bhopal, we came to Mumbai to get Mustafa’s surgery done. For a while we were renting the cheapest room we could find that was a walkable distance from the hospital. It was tiny, there was no water supply, smoke kept coming into the room from a small hotel beside it. But none of that bothered us because whenever we were home and awake, we were deep in prayer. We had to leave that room because we missed paying the rent. Now when we're not at the hospital, we're on the streets.”

– Abbas Ali, crying