Yashasvi is a 3-year-old with aggressive blood cancer. She has finished three cycles of chemotherapy. Unfortunately, her cancer has relapsed and her small body cannot take any more chemotherapy. Her parents have already spent over Rs 10 lakhs on treatment and now need help funding a bone-marrow transplant that can save her.
A life changing illness
The first three years of a child's life are when they soak in maximum information from their environment and develop a will. Bhogi Yashasvi, a naturally active child has learnt to make the best of a bad, scary situation.
At only 3, she has become friends with the nurses in the hospital. “She actually goes and introduces herself to the nurses and begins talking to them. They talk so much that the next time, she even has follow up questions to ask,” says Adi Narayan, Yashasvi's father.
Yashasvi with her mother at the hospital
It is not the only way cancer has changed Yashasvi. At home, her favourite game is administering make-believe injections and operations. She recommends chemotherapy to all her patients and duplicates a more fun version of the treatment she undergoes. “We thank God every day that she has kept up her spirits despite chemotherapy. But the doctor has told us that her cancer has come back,” her father explains.
Yashasvi's cancer has relapsed and any more chemotherapy will only weaken her. She needs a bone-marrow transplant to live.
A harmless lump that turned out to be malignant
Yashasvi started pre-school in June this year and just two months later, her parents noticed a small lump over her right eye. She then developed fever and stomach pain. When the ophthalmologists recommended an MRI, with a sinking heart her parents knew that something was not right.
Yashasvi before cancer
They rushed to Narayana Hrudayalaya to get a second opinion. It was here that they were told that their child had Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). Itis an aggressive cancer that is rarely found in girls, and Yashasvi turned out to be one among the unlucky ones with the disease.
The family rented a room close to the hospital this August. She has finished three cycles of chemotherapy, but the cancer relapsed. Her father is an assistant engineer in a small company in Hindupur, Andhra Pradesh. Despite a salary of only 18,000 per month he managed to spend over 10 lakhs on Yashasvi's treatment.
He used up all his savings and borrowed from friends and family to give his daughter the best treatment. But a bone marrow transplant that will cost 28 lakhs is an amount he will be unable to arrange.
Yashasvi is waiting to go back to her school“We are from a very humble family and we don't know anything about cancer. Whatever the doctor says, we do. Now, the doctor says Yashasvi needs a bone-marrow transplant. Even though it will cost so much, we want to do everything for her health,” says her father.
You can help this family in their time of diffculty
Adi Narayan comes from modest means and has even sold the small plot he had finally purchased for his dream home. He needs your support in raising the funds to save his only child.
The specifics of this case have been verified by the medical team at the concerned hospital. For any clarification on the treatment or associated costs, contact the champion or the medical team.
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