“I know it is stupid to expect a miracle at 18, but that’s all I can do. I try, every half an hour to go up to her and call her by her name. When she still does not respond, it breaks me, but I keep trying. I know she will open her eyes and smile at me. I know she will call me ‘Dada’ again,” Shraboni’s brother Amin feels heart-broken to see his 10-year-old sister battle between life and death every living moment.
Ours was a very happy family.
Shraboni’s father is a farmer. He works on the fields on wages. Her brother Amin helps him add a few hundreds more to the family income. The occupation being seasonal, their income is irregular and unreliable. Despite these limitations, the family stayed happy in the little they had.
At 10, Shraboni is a bright, cheerful 5th grader. Curious and delightful, she loved going to school and enjoyed singing. In fact, her music teacher teaches her free of cost owing to her beautiful voice. Amin stopped studying after his 10th standard so that little Shraboni could complete her education.
She was suddenly sleeping a lot more.
“The little one was very active and talkative. We mostly had to beg her to sit still, but she would always find some game or the other to play,” her brother recalls.
It was about a month ago that Shraboni had started sleeping a lot more. She would find it very difficult to retain her consciousness, and fell asleep a lot. This worried her parents, but they were still unsuspecting of the real problem. When Shraboni developed fever a few days later, they consulted a doctor. A scan revealed what was beyond their imagination.
Shraboni had been diagnosed with Brain Tumour.
It did not take the doctors too long to reach the conclusion from her scan reports, but it took the simple family almost a week to even just recover from the shock. They brought her to Bangalore for her treatment. Over the 2 day journey, her condition worsened. She kept losing consciousness.
Upon reaching Bangalore, she was admitted to Manipal Hospitals. It was an emergency. The child was not getting fully conscious anymore. The doctors had to perform an urgent, life saving surgery.
Shraboni was kept on ventilator support for the days that followed.
Why you should help.
The family has already spent over Rs.4 Lakh on initial diagnosis and treatment. They had no money left for treating the big ailment. When they came to Bangalore, they only had the money that they had either borrowed on high rates of interest, or quite literally begged for. Now, they can neither pay for her treatment nor take her back home.
“She still needs medical care, and the hospital helped us a lot, but with the bills piling this way, we will not be able to complete her treatment. We are very close to saving her, and have gone through a lot to reach here. I always recall the times when I asked her to stay quiet for a while. Today, all I wish is that my sister opens her eyes and talks to me.”
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