Share
“I had never left my hometown in Bihar all my life… until I had to come to Mumbai a few months ago. My child is in a critical condition and had to be brought to a good hospital here if she had to survive. I was forced to bring her here all by myself as my husband cannot afford to take days off since he is the only breadwinner of the family.” - Aarti, mother.
8-year-old Sonali has been diagnosed with aggressive stomach cancer. She is bedridden, and completely weak. Without continued chemotherapy, she will not be able to survive, and this is her mother Aarti’s worst fear now. The child and her family belong to a remote village in Bihar, and this is the first time that they’ve had to experience life outside. Aarti is not able to juggle taking care of her daughter’s treatment expenses and the uncertainty of surviving in an entirely different circumstance with nobody to help them.
‘Her cries and wails pierce through my soul…I cannot bear seeing her suffer’
The child's ordeal started in September, when she first started complaining of a stomach pain. Overcome by discomfort, the little girl would toss and turn in bed without being able to sleep a wink. Her parents Aarti and Munchun took her to local doctors in their Bihar hometown, but the medicines they prescribed weren’t helping her at all.To make matters worse, her stomach started swelling up too in a matter of days. This really alarmed her parents, who were advised to take her to a bigger hospital in another city to find out what was actually happening to their daughter.
“My husband and I then decided that I would take her to Mumbai all by myself. There was no other way. He knew that he would lose his job if he were to take that many days off… and without his salary, how would we treat our daughter?” - Aarti.
‘On a watchman’s salary, how will my husband send us enough money to save her?’
The child's father Munchun works as a watchman for a private building complex in Bihar. He is the only earning member of the family consisting of four children and their mother, Aarti. Sonali’s youngest brother is only a year old – and had to accompany his siblings to Mumbai along with their mother and elderly grandparents They all currently reside in a space that belongs to a relative and are having to make do with the scanty resources available to them. Aarti’s focus has been getting her daughter started on treatment so that her life is saved.“With great difficulty, I borrowed money from everyone I knew and got her started on chemotherapy. She has undergone one cycle now. But she needs multiple cycles and the money that my husband sends us is not enough for the children’s food… how will it help pay medical bills? Please help me. Please.” - Aarti.
With your kind help, this mother can save her daughter before anything bad happens to her. Click here to contribute.
