“He has blood tests every alternate day. Now he’s so afraid that even when the doctor is just coming to talk to us, he thinks he’s going to get an injection. I’m only a watchman, but to my son, I’m his hero. He thinks I can protect him from anything, but I’m failing. Every day that I fail to get the money to continue his treatment, I’m letting him down.” - Ganesh

Ranveer feels suffocated in the hospital. He can’t leave his bed, even if he wanted to. He’s too weak, and any infection outdoors could make him sicker. It’s been a month since his grave diagnosis – a month full of pain, sleepless nights and gruelling chemo. Ranveer has blood cancer. A child who once loved the outdoors and begged his father to take him to the park every evening is now surrounded by sick children just like him. When he sees them cry, he too panics and screams.

‘People come here to make a living, I came here to save my son’

Ganesh and Aruna have no friends or family in Mumbai where Ranveer’s cancer treatment is going on. Ganesh’s days are spent shuttling between the billing counter, pharmacy and the ward. Aruna stays by Ranveer’s side all day. She can’t leave him for even a minute. Ganesh and Aruna haven’t slept in a month.

“One night in January, he fell sick. We stayed up all night with him because his forehead was burning hot, and he was shivering because of the fever. Who knew it was a symptom of his cancer? A distant relative of ours had cancer. He didn’t make it. That is the first thing I thought about when the doctors told us.”

With no savings or income, Ganesh can’t continue his son’s chemotherapy

Ganesh couldn’t start Ranveer’s treatment immediately. The hospital that diagnosed the disease in his hometown was too expensive for Ganesh. It took him a couple of weeks to find a hospital that could start treatment with his little savings of Rs. 30,000 and jewellery worth another Rs.10,000.

 “I work as a watchman for college in our hometown, Belgaum. I earn around Rs. 5000 per month. Every month I try to keep aside 500. I was saving the money for our children’s education. Now it's all spent on his treatment, I don't have anything more left and I have not gone for since we've come here.”

Ganesh is struggling. He has no means to continue his son’s treatment beyond this.



Ranveer hasn’t slept in weeks. He doesn’t eat anymore, even when his mother feeds him. The disease is taking its toll on this once happy little boy. Ranveer can only fight blood cancer with chemotherapy. He needs 6 more months of it, but after spending 1.5 lakhs already, Ganesh has nothing left.