“Her mouth hurts so bad, she barely eat anything. It’s devastating to see our little girl like this. She used to be a different person.”
Shree Ashritha is an 11-year-old girl who has aggressive blood cancer and only chemotherapy can save her. In August, her parents took her to the doctor when she kept complaining of pain in the stomach and difficulty breathing. To their horror, she was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma - a type of blood cancer.
Ashrita with her parents
Life changed for the worse, for Ashritha and her family
Ashritha lived in a small, happy family before news of cancer hit them. She lives with her parents and elder brother. Now, the family feels like they are stuck in a never-ending nightmare.Ashritha used to be a very active kid, both at school and with friends. But now, this little girl is living the worst life imaginable for someone her age. At a time, where the only thing she should worry about is homework, life has taken a sour turn. She is undergoing gruelling chemotherapy to beat her cancer.
Ashritha in a rare, happy moment between her treatment
She’s currently in the second month of her treatment and needs treatment for at least one more year to be completely fine again. But her treatment has left her with side-effects that make her irritable and pained. Her mouth hurts too much from the treatment and all the food that she can eat is curd and curd-rice. Her parents’ sadness at not being able to feed their daughter her favorite food, is evident when they talk about her.
She’s close to her brother Shri Harsha. He studies in class 10 and spends as much time as possible with Ashritha to distract her from her pain and suffering. Ashritha has quit school since the diagnosis and she has other friends to keep her company. For an 11-year-old girl, that’s one of the worst things to experience. Ashritha’s mother, Lakshmi, can’t hold her tears back when she sees her once cheerful daughter cry silently, lonely with pain and misery.
“We don’t know what to do, we don’t have rich relatives who can see us through this situation.”
Their bleak financial condition has made living insufferable for them
Her father Satyanarayana is a farmer and the only earning member of the family. His income is little and often unstable. It is getting difficult for him to continue treatment. So far, they have spent lakhs of rupees for Ashritha’s evaluations and treatment, from whatever little savings they had and by borrowing money from their relatives. But unfortunately even these resources have run out now, and they have no means of funding further treatment.
Though life has been very unfair to the family, they haven’t lost faith. They truly hope that Ashritha will get better again and that life will go back to the normalcy of before. But for that to happen, they need to get Ashritha treated, and despite all the optimism they try to muster, the fear of losing their daughter eats away at them.
“I wish I weren’t so poor, my kids deserve better.”Satyanarayana’s only complaint from life is that he’s does not have enough money to provide for the treatment of his daughter. Let his poverty not be the cause of his worst fears being realized. Let’s all help Ashritha get a much deserved second chance at a healthy life.
Supporting Documents
The specifics of this case have been verified by the medical team at the concerned hospital. For any clarification on the treatment or associated costs, contact the campaign organizer or the medical team.
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