Blood cancer will take my daughter’s life, help me save her

“What has happened to me Maa?” my 6-year-old daughter, Pooja cries. Every time she runs her fingers over her head, she realizes she is bald.

She questions me with tears in her eyes as she doesn’t know what is wrong. I feel completely helpless as I don’t know what to tell her. My little girl’s life has changed miserably and drastically soon after she was diagnosed with blood cancer.

Earlier, she’d bring her colorful ribbons and comb to me. "Maa, make plaits," she'd demand. Getting her hair done was the favorite part of her day. While I made plaits, she’d sit in front of the mirror and look at herself. But now, she doesn’t even want to look at herself.

She refuses to even get out of the room. The only time she comes out is when we have to take her to the hospital for the grueling chemotherapy sessions. She is unaware of her disease. She doesn’t understand what cancer is, but she quietly goes for the painful treatment.

From fever to blood cancer.

It all started back in October last year. One day, after she returned from school, she got a fever. We thought that it was because of the weather change, but when she complained that she is suffering from ear pain, headache we took her to the doctor.

She was given a few medicines, but they didn’t improve her condition. A couple of days later I noticed that there were red and yellow clots on her leg. That’s when we started panicking and went for a second opinion.

We were told to get numerous tests. “It is very serious, you should take her to Mumbai” the doctors told us. We were very scared, but we kept praying for the best. However, soon, our worst nightmares came true.

Our baby was diagnosed with Acute lymphoid leukemia, a rare type of blood cancer.

It shook us. She was under observation for days and the doctors told us that her chemotherapy needs to start immediately. We were inconsolable.

My heart aches to see my daughter suffering so much. The treatment took away all her energy and her hair. Now, because of weakness, she can’t even walk and had to be dropped out of school. Cancer snatched all her happiness away and left her with immense pain.

We were informed that the treatment will cost INR 900000.00(13000$ or USD), an amount we’ll never be able to arrange. We have already drained every penny we had on her initial treatment.

We have never felt so powerless in our entire lives. For months, my husband has been working hard. But with his small income, we have to run our household and even pay off the debts.

On the other hand, my daughter’s disease is threatening to take her life. Whenever we take her out, she grabs all the attention- the kids bully her and people look at her differently. It breaks my heart, but there is nothing I can do.

We’ll lose our only child if she doesn’t get the treatment urgently. Her health is declining rapidly. She has become extremely weak and keeps wailing in pain. Your contributions can save her life. Please help us.