My five-year-old son whines in pain. “Amma, Appa, let’s go home. I don’t want to stay here,” he cries every day. His agony is unbearable, sometimes he just lies down on the ground whimpering. He barely laughs or smiles nowadays. I feel terrible for not being able to do anything to mitigate his pain. Gowthaman has been diagnosed with a rare disease, Sacrococcygeal teratomas. It is an uncommon tumour that develops at the base of the spine and unfortunately Gowthaman’s tumor is cancerous. He is already undergoing chemotherapy and radiation and soon we need to pay an impossible amount of Rs. 20 lakh ($ 27,796) for a bone marrow transplant.
My name is Nagarajan and I am a father of three children. Gowthaman is my only son and the youngest child. I work as a truck driver, earning Rs. 6,000 ($ 84) every month. We had spotted a small lump at the end of his spine right after his birth; thinking it’s normal and would heal by itself we didn’t consult any doctor. Eight months later, we noticed that it kept growing and had become considerably huge; worriedly we took him to a local hospital. The doctor said that it needs an operation, so we somehow borrowed and arranged for money and got the operation done. It was all fine after that until two years later, we spotted another lump at the same spot. Our hearts broke when we heard he had a cancerous tumour growing inside him. After a series of chemotherapy, when there was no apparent improvement, we took him to Narayana hospital and he is currently being treated there. |
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