Hi I am Sayantani and I am fundraising for my college mate Debjani. She is one of the sweeteat persons I know with an infectious smile. She was leading a simple happy life with her parents before her world came crashing down on her. She underwent her third operation in the last 8 years, on a tumor in her spinal cord, last week. She has been fighting so hard to stand up on her two legs. And lead a normal life. But normalcy has been eluding her since last 3 years when she lost sensation in her hips and lower limbs. And has been bedridden ever since. She was diagnosed with recurrent D3-D4 psammomatous meningioma in 2013. She was in a relationship with someone who she had spent most of her childhood with. He abandoned her during these trying times as well. Depression took over as everything was falling apart.
Debjani had to give up her job with a reputed MNC after her tumor operation in 2013, because she could not be the best of performers under these challenging times. She had to go to work in a wheelchair where her mother followed her in the morning and sat there in office the whole day and would escort her back in the evening. Despite all this, the company didn't offer her work from home opportunity so she could continue earning in these trying times. And atleast could have a medical insurance for herself. So she was forced to resign because dragging herself to office like this was getting extremely difficult. In 2019 she underwent her second operation. But there wasn't any improvement despite the expensive surgery and continued physiotherapy. What she was going through left her and her family devastated. Her father had had to take enormous loans for continuing the treatment of his only beloved daughter. Her mother had to sell all her jewelleries to afford her treatment. I hope you understand that Debjani's treatment is an ongoing, continuous process which is highly expensive because of the complexity of her case. Last week she underwent her third operation. Her dad called me up. He sounded dejected, not hopeful in the least. The unknown fear of how to move forward seemed to be gripping him tight. My assurances of trying to get some help and respite seemed too good to be true to him. Debjani was too tired to speak to me. From the pain. From the fear of the unknown. I put the phone down heartbroken.
While life was happening for the rest of us, it stopped for Debjani 3 years back. She can't feel a thing below her hips or in her legs. Like any normal person, she wants to walk again. She wants her mom and dad to get some relief. She wants to work. And hencewhy she is trusting the doctors with her life by going in for multiple surgeries. The treatments are extremely expensive. We can't let a father lose faith in humanity completely. We can't let a 33 year old lose hopes of a normal life. She needs treatment and post operative care. She needs continuous physiotherapy and rehab. She needs help from us. Kindly come forward with whatever you can help with. No amount is less and can make a world of difference for her. She will thank you kind folks forever for touching her life when she needed your help the most.