My name is Anila and I am a second year pediatric resident in southern California. 

The following is regarding my younger cousin Miraj.

Miraj is an 11 year old boy, a child of a school teacher and a farmer. He is from a small village in the mountains of Kashmir, Pakistan far from any major cities. He liked spending his time going to school and being a happy child, always up for an adventure with his many cousins, exploring the nature around him.

This past winter, Miraj started to complain of seeing double vision and started to have difficulty walking.  After an episode during which he lost consciousness, his parents took him to the nearest hospital in city located 2 hours away.

There, the doctors sent him to the capital for further work up. It was here that doctors discovered a tumor that was compressing portions of the rest of his brain, causing his symptoms and causing parts of his brain to herniate out of his skull.

Despite the dire situation and his critical state, doctors refused surgical resection until payment of more than $10,000 was made. This is in stark contrast to the services that would be provided for this child in a country like the United states. Needless to say, this was an astronomical amount  for a family of 6 living on a farm, with no real source of income. In order to pay for the initial surgery, the father borrowed funds from anyone who would be willing to contribute, sold all of their personal belongings of any value as well as parts of their land.  The operation was completed. In the US, after a surgery such as this, patients are provided with physical therapy and further monitoring to assure that the child is able to regain at least some form of strength/ability. This was not offered to Miraj and in any case, the family was not able to afford these expenses.

With head dressings in place, and tubes coming out of his skull, Miraj returned to his home in his village. Here his parents have worked tirelessly to keep him comfortable and give him the training exercises that he needs to regain some semblance of his life.  Unfortunately while recovering from his operation in the capital, Miraj's grandfather passed away. This further complicated his recovery as their was a huge amount of sadness and guilt associated with not being home at the time of his passing. 

Miraj and his family returned to the hospital this past week for radiation/chemotherapy needed to kill remaining cancer cells in his body. However, once again, the family was asked to provide payment upfront  prior to any treatment. At this point, the family has exhausted any funds that they had and have borrowed money from everyone they know for the cost of his medicines and treatment. They were told to go home. In tears and in a rage mixed with immense sadness, the family returned home from the hospital without any further workup or treatment. 

The multiple trips back and forth from the village to the hospital in the capital, the costs of the dingy hotels in which they stayed, the expenses of the medications and supplies (purchased by the family as this is not provided by the hospital. Mothers and fathers also double as nurses as this too is not available), as well as the cost of the surgery has left the family with absolutely no funds. 

What motivated me to pursue a career in medicine was the drive to fight and address the disparities that are present even here in the United States. As a trainee, I work hard to ensure that every single patient of mine receives the absolute best care that I can provide, regardless of their ability to pay, their backgrounds or their socioeconomic status. It pains me to an unimaginable degree to know that while I practice medicine here, that someone close to me, someone who is innocent to the evils of the world that would prevent him from receiving life saving treatment, is suffering in the way he is.

If I had the ability to, I would go to Miraj and I would ensure that he receives the best care that is available. Unfortunately, I am unable to do that at this point in my life. However, I know that a collective effort from others will be able to help him more than anything I could do alone.

With that being said, I have decided to spearhead an initiative to collect the costs that are needed for his care. Currently the goal is to cover the initial cost of the treatment he needs. The hope is to ultimately collect more than that to provide Miraj with the resources he needs going forward including future surveillance, treatments and medication. I feel very strongly that this goal can be achieved.

If you are unable to donate, please keep Miraj in your thoughts. I ask that you share this campaign widely. 

Thank you,
Anila