Arnav is 3 years old and comes from Shahdol village in Madhya Pradesh. He was diagnosed with DMG PAED HYMPH in mid 2020 and underwent treatment at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.
Arnav Tiwari
Age: 3 years
Hometown: Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh (725 miles from Mumbai)
Arnav is an adorable child who actively participates in all activities at the center. He played with the other kids and happily adjusted to his stay at the center. He along with his family came to the Access Life center in September, 2020.
Fighting Cancer and COVID-19
Arnav’s initial symptom was fever. The local doctor gave hima syrup, but when this proved to be ineffective, the doctor suspected some infection and conducted a few tests. The test results were all normal and so, Arnav was started on TB medication. However, Arnav’s white blood cell and haemoglobin count kept falling and he had to undergo a blood transfusion. With local clinics closing down due to the pandemic, the family took the child to the Central India Institute of Hematology and Oncology in Nagpur. After another round of tests, he was diagnosed to have DMG PAED HYMPH. The family then moved to Mumbai for further treatment.
Arnav was responding well to his chemotherapy when in December, 2020, Arnav tested positive for COVID-19. With the support of the doctors and the medical team, Arnav was already beginning to recover by the third day. He was, however, kept under observation as a precautionary measure and was finally released after 14 days.
Challenges
The family faced a lot of financial issues and had to take several loans from relatives and friends. With all the initial misdiagnosis, the family had to repeatedly change doctors and undertake the same tests several times. This got more challenging because of the pandemic-induced lockdown and limited availability of doctors and medical resources. The family had no awareness about childhood cancer and thus it came as a shock to them when the news was conveyed to them. It affected them both mentally and emotionally.