Category: COVID Surviors

Categories
COVID Surviors

Misbah-ul-Haq

Meet our BraveHearts

Misbah-ul-Haq

Age : 12 years

Place : Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh (342 miles from Mumbai) 

Misbah is a smart and intelligent child. He has always been proactive and obedient. He will soon be entering his teens and behaves very maturely at the center. Misbah and his family came to the center in January 2020.

Fighting Cancer and COVID

Misbah started falling sick frequently when he was in class 7. Because this continued and there was not much improvement, his family took him to Indore. After three months of medication, Misbah’s health improved and for the next six months he was hail and hearty. But after this, the child fell sick again and the fever relapsed. The doctors suspected it was some viral fever, but the family decided to change the doctor and shifted him to Apollo hospital. Here it was confirmed that he is suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. After taking some good guidance they came to Mumbai for further treatment.

Half a year after coming to Mumbai, Misbah tested positive for COVID-19.

Challenges

The disease took a major monetary toll on the family. Before coming to Mumbai they spent almost 1 lac only on medication. Additional expenditure for travel, various tests, and nutritious food was also a burden for them before reaching Mumbai. They had sought financial help from their relatives and Misbah’s father was concerned about how to return the amount borrowed. 

Categories
COVID Surviors

Gopal Solanki

Meet our BraveHearts

Gopal Solanki

Age : 3 years

Place : Shegaon, Maharashtra (316 miles from Mumbai) 

Gopal is a playful and cheerful child. He loves to play with toys, with other kids, and watch cartoons. His family and he started living at the Access Life center in September, 2020.

Fighting Cancer and COVID

Gopal first developed a fever. On being taken to the doctor, he was prescribed some medicines and blood tests. Because the report showed low platelet count, The treatment procedure was changed to include injection and saline. However, Gopal’s body temperature kept fluctuating and the family changed doctors. After all the tests were done, Gopal was put on a  treatment for malaria. However, his condition did not improve and the blood culture came out negative for malaria. The family then moved Gopal to yet another hospital in Akola, where he was diagnosed to have severe malaria. The doctors increased the dosage of medicines and injections.

There was a temporary remission in fever after which it was back again. So, the doctors further increased the medicine dosage. This process repeated for several weeks before the family changed doctors yet again. This doctor suggested a BMT test, which declared that Gopal had BCT-All cancer. The doctor asked the family to immediately go to Tata hospital in Mumbai and told them to be hopeful that the child will recover from this disease. Following the doctor’s advice, the family travelled to Mumbai.

In November 2020, Gopal tested positive for COVID-19. Gopal had to treated at the hospital where he wanted both his parents to stay with him. However, the hospital allowed only one parent stay and this was a challenging time for him. The child battled the disease for a month after which he was finally declared COVID negative in December.

Challenges

The family faced a lot of challenges mentally, emotionally, and physically trying to find out what exactly was the problem was and why fever was not alleviating. The parents had no clue about childhood cancer and the news came as a major shock. The family faces financial issues and had to take loans from friends and relatives for the treatment. The family also had problems finding shelter in Mumbai, since they were traveling with two women who were uncomfortable staying in the hospital or out on the streets. 

Categories
COVID Surviors

Manas Lokhande

Meet our BraveHeart

Manas Lokhande

Age: 4 years 

Hometown: Jalgaon, Maharashtra (247 miles from Mumbai)

Manas is a strong child who loves playing and coloring. He is the first born child in his household and is pampered by his family. He came to the Access Life center with his parents in January, 2020.

Fighting Cancer and COVID-19

In Dec’19 Manas was admitted to the hospital in his hometown for Pneumonia. He developed difficulty in passing urine and stool with pain in the abdomen. Since he was not getting better, his family shifted him to Aurangabad City where a CT scan and Pet scan report confirmed that Manas had a Rhabdoid Tumor in his stomach. Heeding the advice of a close relative, the family travelled to Mumbai for better treatment. 

Manas was already running a fever when he was admitted. On being tested, he was found to be COVID positive. He recovered in 14 days with the support of the doctors and the hospital. 

Four months later, Manas was scheduled for his Rhabdoid Tumor surgery at Tata Memorial Hospital. The operation lasted for more than 5 hours and was successful. Manas was on the road to recovery and was almost normal. 

However, a month later he tested positive for COVID-19 again. This time his mother also tested positive for COVID-19. While Manas’ mom was COVID negative within a week, his struggle lasted for more than a month. He tested COVID positive 6 times throughout this month before finally being tested negative in late July.

Only after he tested negative for COVID-19, did Manas’ treatment for cancer resume. He was started on an ongoing cycle of 28 radiations.

Challenges

The biggest challenge for Manas was being repeatedly testing positive for COVID-19. After his mother tested positive too, it was difficult for her to provide him the care he needed, as she needed time to recover as well.

Categories
COVID Surviors

Arnav Tiwari

Meet our BraveHearts

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.