20-year-old Mohana Kumara should ideally be in college with his friends attending classes and looking forward to a brand new chapter life brings at this age. Unfortunately, he is in the CCU of a hospital struggling to stay alive with every breath. Mohana has a critical heart disorder and urgently needs a heart transplantation procedure to have any chance at life again.
He went to college and came back hanging by a thread
Gobbali is a tiny village in the district of Hassan, Karnataka. Mohana Kumara was born here as the youngest son of a farmer who spends every day toiling in the fields. Lokanath, the older brother just finished his B.Com and is looking for a good job to help support his family, while Mohana is away at the college hostel earning his degree. While their parents are uneducated and socioeconomically weak, they made sure every saved rupee went towards educating their sons and creating a better life.
“Two months ago, Mohana started having terrible stomach aches. He was vomiting continuously. At the hostel, they said he was pretty serious. Because he had three exams to attend, he stayed even though he was sick. He just went to the college hospital to get emergency medicines. Within two days, he got worse. He came home. He could not even write the last exam. He was in a lot of pain. We took him to the hospital in Hassan. The doctor said his heart might be the problem and suggested we come to Bangalore.”
It was so sudden, they are still trying to comprehend what happened to Mohana
When Lokanath brought his brother to a hospital in Bangalore, the doctor first diagnosed him of a clot and said it would take six months of recovery time. Though he was given medicines and treatment, Mohana did not show much improvement. The brothers had no support system in the city, and with nowhere to stay for long, they went back to Hassan.
“It was not even one night, his condition became so critical that we rushed back. At NH they told us that his heart was leaking. He had a problem in one of his valves and the pumping was 20% (Dilated Cardiomyopathy with Severe LV dysfunction EF - 20%). It took me a while to even understand what they were saying. This was all so sudden. Then they said he needed a transplant. The medicines were just keeping him alive. He needs another heart if he has to survive this.”
Battling against odds to save his brother
Lokanath keeps saying “He was fine and suddenly he was serious” trying to come to terms with the fact that his brother is in the CCU. The family sold the agricultural land which was their only means of income to take care of their loved one’s medical expenses.
“There is nobody to help us with expenses. All of us are from similar backgrounds so it is not that they won’t, they just can’t. Whoever could have pitched in what little they had. It’s all about saving his life now.”
How can you help?
Their father, a farmer has been the sole breadwinner for the family earning Rs. 30,000 per annum considering the monsoons are on time. Their savings were invested in education, and they have nothing left to save their little boy from this terrible situation.
Your contribution can help this 20-year-old get a new heart, and a much-deserved second shot at life.
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