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“If you were to see Shaurya right now, you wouldn’t believe for even a moment that a deadly disease is ravaging his body - that too for the second time in his life. After he’d beat cancer following a long battle in 2020, I truly thought that was the end of it - that he’d never have to go through that again. But, I wasn’t expecting to walk into the doctor’s office at one of his follow-up appointments, only to be told that his cancer had come back…” - Poonam, mother
He had just turned 1 when he was detected with cancer
Shaurya had just achieved a major milestone - his first steps - when the worst happened. He started showing alarming symptoms, that shocked his parents. First, his stomach bulged out abnormally, and soon some lumps seemed to have jutted out of the base of his neck. A visit to the local doctor’s clinic sealed his fate - blood cancer.“I couldn’t process what the doctor had said. No matter how many times I repeated it in my head, it just made no sense to me. How could my 1-year-old have blood cancer? He was only a baby! Slowly, as the doctors began his treatment, it started to sink in… And just like that 4 years passed. I still remember the joy and relief I felt, the day they told us that he was cancer-free. That was just 2 years ago. Why did it have come back to haunt him now? Why him?” - Deepak, father
Chemotherapy alone won’t suffice, he needs a transplant to beat cancer this time
Shaurya was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, cancer of the blood and bone marrow primarily affecting white blood cells. He underwent rigorous chemotherapy during his first battle and beat it successfully. Then, at a routine check-up last month, the family was in for another shock - tests detected abnormal cells in his blood which indicated that his cancer had relapsed.This time around, with his relapse, his cancer is more aggressive than before, and salvage chemotherapy alone will not be enough. What he needs is a bone marrow transplant. But his parents, who are in a huge financial predicament after exhausting everything they had during the course of his previous treatment, can’t afford his expensive transplant procedure.
With a meagre income of 7,000 rupees, this father has no way to save his son
The sole breadwinner of his family, Deepak works at a mobile shop and has gone beyond his capacity to afford the treatment expenses for his son. Now, not only has he run out of money, but he is also in debt and struggling to repay those that he borrowed from.“We collectively spent 18 lakh rupees on his treatment, all by pooling everything we had, selling my wife’s jewellery and borrowing from relatives. My sister is still helping us foot the smaller bills, but there is just no way I can arrange for another 37 lakh rupees. Ever since I learned about his relapse, I haven’t been able to think straight. Fear grips my heart every time I look at him… I am so terrified that my son will be taken away from me. I can’t let that happen..” - Deepak
A young and brilliant child, 7-year-old Shaurya is ambitious and a keen learner. His teachers describe him as an excellent student, as he is always scoring good grades in school. Despite knowing he needs to receive treatment, he is adamant about completing his school activities before he can be hospitalised. He has every intention of studying to become successful, and taking the burden of providing for the family off of his parents.
Shaurya can beat cancer again, only with your help. Click here to donate and support him in his journey to recovery.
Identity of the child is protected in adherence to government guidelines.
