The Sunday Diaries - Little stories from our day care centers

He raised his hands for the customary greetings as he nervously walked into the counselling room. He was the father of a child who is being prepared for bone marrow transplantation for the last one year. Every Sunday he travels from Chamrajnagar so that we can give his child most carefully monitored therapy.

He settled uncomfortably on the chair. There was some confusion earlier in the day and he thought that I wanted him to meet me. We briefly discussed his child's health and I told him that he could proceed home. Yet he continued to remain seated. At Samraksha, we have a cocktail of languages and expressions we use to speak to the families, which come from such profound ethnic and linguistic diversity. In a few seconds he started murmuring. It took a while for us to understand that he was telling us what he is doing to organise for the contribution towards his child's transplants, which he has committed to. We listened to him and encouraged him to try his best. We also told him not to stop trying and yet not to worry too much. The reassurances seemed not to be finding place in his heart.

Just as he got up to say goodbye, as he spoke incomprehensibly, we noticed the tears in his eyes. We asked him to sit and calm down. Over the next few minutes he poured his heart out. He spoke about how he believed his child would have died 4 years back if he had not chosen to come to Bangalore. He explained that when his child was born they had 30 cows. Every time he took his child to a nearby hospital, there would be admission for 3-4 days and a bill of Rs. 20,000 30,000/-. He shared how he wanted to contribute more to our program but now we had nothing remaining with him. The helplessness of a father was right there to be seen. Here was a family which had gone into poverty from being in a decent position in life thanks to the disease. He expressed his gratitude towards the whole program. After a few words of encouragement and reassurance, when he felt better, he left for the day.

Little does he know that we as a team feel blessed to be the smallest instruments in the way nature chooses to comfort him and his family. Little does he know how playing the smallest role in transforming care and management is a duty, a responsibility and a matter of great pride for all of us. Truth be told, we are grateful to him for placing his trust in us.