26 year old Karthiga has been waiting to live her life for the past four and a half years. She and her mother Azhagu are in Chennai. The family hails from Kakkoor in Ramanathapuram disctrict in Tamil Nadu. Karthiga has moved to Chennai as she is waiting to undergo an urgent kidney transplant surgery.
Her brother toils every day in a new country to save her
Karthiga’s father passed away in 2000. Since then, the family has been struggling to have means for survival. Karthiga has an elder and a younger brother. The elder brother has been working in Kuwait as a guard in a factory for the last four years. He sends his entire salary home for Kritiga’s medical needs- but they do not even cover her monthly dialysis costs.
"He cannot even come home to see me, He is staying so far away from home to support my medical costs. Otherwise, he would come back to our village to be with the family."
The younger brother is in his hometown and stays with his grandmother. Karthiga and her mother, Azhagu, have been in Chennai for the last four and a half years. Her mother is unemployed and stays at home in order to support her daughter.
Karthiga and her mother moved to Chennai 4 years ago looking for a cure
Karthiga was a young energetic student studying BA.History. She was in her third year when she began to fall sick often. At the end of her fifth semester, Azhagu took her daughter to a local doctor. The doctor recommended that they visit Chennai for further treatment.
Azhagu took her daughter to Billroth Hospitals, where doctors diagnosed her with kidney failure, and suggested that she needs a kidney transplant. Karthiga has registered on the transplant list and has been waiting for over four years for a donor.
"Every time a call comes with the availability of a donor kidney- something goes wrong. Either it doesn't match my blood type, or the kidney is not of a young person.", says Karthiga.
Doctors say that 26-year-old Karthiga has to have a transplant of a young person's kidney. An older kidney, they say, will fail again soon. The cost of transplant will come to 6 lakhs.
How you can help
Karthiga and her mother have borrowed heavily from all sources to meet her medical expenses. She spends over Rs 2100 for a single dialysis- and a total of Rs 16,800 a month. The family is desperate to have the dialysis continue until the cadaver kidney is obtained.
Supporting Document
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