My life is quite broken right now, with seismic shift in my philosophy brought about by disillusionment about the supposed goodness of human beings. It seems I have responded by trying to fix others problems, as if I lack enough of my own. Solving others crisis seems much more doable, until you dig your heels in. It is then you realize the challenge is much harder than you thought. Few weeks back, I woke up on a Friday afternoon to find a 6 year old girl lurking in the house. Investigation revealed that she was here to look after my one year old nephew. My sister was looking for someone much older, and had asked to take her back, but was informed that her mother was in terrible shape, and she wants her daughter to go to a house where she will be cared for and eventually married off. Anjana, the little girl, wept at this point and said that her mother was going to pass away soon. Her alternative of working at our house was to pick chilli pepper from the fields with her grandmother since her mom could no longer work, and we couldnt send her back. The details I could get from her suggested that her mother had some kind of fatal disease, but years of development work has taught me to take such information with a pinch of salt. The next friday, a week ago on my mothers birthday, I visited Anjanas mother in the remote village of Nitertek in Narayanganj with Swarna and Mithu. Anjanas mother, Rehana looked very sick when we saw her, and she was very reserved. Her features were bloated, she was very anaemic, and seemed to have developed psychological problems. After Swarna inspected her with her medical school knowledge, we suspected it was cancer since she bled a lot and there appeared to be a tumour of some sort in her abdomen. With heavy heart, we trudged back, and once I returned to Dhaka, I talked to Mashrur whose mother is a Professor of Gynaecology at DMC, seeking her appointment. Cancer treatment is expensive, and given my precarious financial situation and inability to raise funds for such work, I knew that at most, I can provide her with some relief and not a cure, but I decided to get her checked nonetheless. After few days of running around in hospitals that involved my driver quitting because I made him pick up and drop off Anjanas mother, she was finally diagnosed. It was not cancer, but a severe case of hypothyroid that lead to severe anaemia. Her hormones were incredibly off balance, for example, her thyroid stimulating hormone was present in more than 20 times the normal level (the machine couldnt even count), and her haemoglobin was half the normal amount! Good thing is this is curable, but the bad thing is, it will require a life time of medical supplies. I immediately need 5-6 people who can donate O+ (positive) blood over the next few days (a person a day) to treat her anaemia, so please share the word. I can be reached at 01716 444558, or simply a message here would suffice. If you would like to help her financially, do let me know as well. I am taking care of the basic costs, but I cant afford the medical supplies and good nutrition she will need for years to come. Hopefully she will be better soon, and Anjana can go back to her mothers arms where she belongs. Who knows it better than me, how priceless that is?
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 18:31:10 +0000
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