Dear Friends,

 

In mid-September 2021, our elder sister, Tasneem, suffered a Right Infarction of the Brain, commonly known as a stroke, that left her hospitalized for a week and limited mobility on the left side of her body. She quickly recovered from this stroke. However, on November 19th, she suffered more bleeding in the brain and exhibited stroke symptoms. She was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at Manipal hospital in Bangalore and admitted for another week. She returned home and began her second recovery; her recovery was much slower this time. Early in the morning of December 23rd, around 6 am, her face and mouth started drooping on the right side; we once again rushed her to the Intensive Care Unit at Manipal Hospital, where she stayed for nine days. This time I was there and witnessed firsthand her third stroke.

 

Due to financial hardship, her son Imran Haq and her daughter Nafisa Shariff chose to bring her back home and treat her in the house. After this third incident, she became mostly paralyzed and bedridden. She has responded over time, now and then. Over the last couple of months, she has had other complications, such as not finding veins to inject fluids via IV. More recently, we have had to insert food pipes to give her sustenance by using doctors and nurses who were kind enough to come to a home visit.

 

She has now been diagnosed with a fistula. This requires admitting her to a hospital, yet again. In recent weeks, because of sustenance using a food pipe, she has become more conscious, opens her eyes, and occasionally responds to words, including muttering happy birthday to her grandson. This has given us all hope. However, she needs further care and the best chance to recover.

 

Meanwhile, our nephew and niece's (my elder sister's children) financial resources are entirely exhausted. My sister and I have been helping and are also at the end of our financial ropes. So we are therefore appealing to you for help. We are living in extraordinary times with extraordinary strain, both on our pockets and our psyche, and some of us are stretched quite thin already. So help only if you can, and only in a small way that won't be a strain to your resources. Any assistance will go directly towards her continuing medical bills (and anything else she needs), which seem to grow over time.

 

Please have her in your thoughts and prayers and thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

In Gratitude, Salim and Tabassum

Update May 7, 2022: Our sister passed away on April 28, 2022 and was buried after Asr prayers the same day. We are so saddened but we are glad she is in a better place. She was in a lot of pain for far too long. We will keep this fundraiser up for a week or so if someone is interested in helping with large medical expense debt that my nephew has. Thank you again for all your support.