Vol. 59 No. 20 • November 14, 2017
Dear friends,
Here is an example of how Rotary works and makes a difference.
Three Rotary Clubs came together with remarkable alacrity to touch the life of a little Bhavishya Yaan child. Here’s how we went from identifying a congenital heart disease to open heart surgery in 15 days!
Rani Santosh Talekar a 11 year old studies in grade 8th in the Bhavishya Yaan program at GK Marg municipal school. She is the daughter of Mr. Santosh Talekar, who works as a watchman earning Rs.12000/- per month (BVG India Pvt. Ltd.) for the last 2 years.
He has three daughters.
Rani was diagnosed with a hole in her heart when she was one year old. Even knowing about the condition the parents could not help her because of their poor financial situation. Keeping in mind the cost of treatment the parents did not think of a surgery. Instead they tried some alternative treatments like ayurveda and kept the child stress free.
Rani, excels in studies, has beautiful handwriting and pushes her limits to learn more. This is why she enrolled herself into the after-school programme of Rotary Club of Bombay – Bhavishya Yaan.
Last month she started missing school more than usual and over a period of time her growth was not as much as other children.
The alert staff of our education partner, Vidya foundation, Miss Poonam was concerned and called her parents. This is when they shared the details of her medical condition. It so happened that the rotary coordinator, Ekta Shah was present at the centre the day her parents came. Immediately she shared this case in the WhatsApp group of Bhavishya Yaan with active committee members.
Within no time Rotarian Alok Sekseria responded and connected Ekta to a god sent angel named Natasha Sejpal (RC Mumbai Lakers from Little Hearts District team).
Rotary Anne Ekta Shah had to convince the parents to be confident and take this opportunity which comes once in a lifetime. They were told of all risks involved and why they should consider this to improve the quality of life of their daughter. They got back in two days with a positive mind and prayerful heart.
Natasha must have helped more than a hundred similar cases but still gets fully involved with every case like her own child. She continuously guided Alok and Ekta on the next steps to be done and also counselled the parents. Just when parents in their minds were all prepared for surgery, the initial reports confused everyone. The consulting doctor said Rani will have to go through cardiac CATH to see if she should be operated. The hole had become much bigger as she grew. If this operation was done when she was 6 months old, it would have been 100 percent successful but now the doctors needed to be sure. For this test which cost Rs 25000, global grant could not support and we are grateful to our own Nelum Gidwani whose contribution bridged this gap.
Natasha (wife of Rotarian Parth Sejpal who was Charter President of Rotary Club of Mumbai Lakers) requested Dr. Suresh Rao, leading paediatric cardiologist in Mumbai to take this case. He has operated more than 12000 children.
When the reports came, doctor said she could be operated. With the help of Rotary Club of Hanging Gardens and their global grants, Rani got successfully operated on 6/11/2017 by Dr. Rao and his team at one of the best hospital of Mumbai – Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani (KDA) hospital. Currently Rani is in the hospital but very shortly she will be able to live a normal life.
My sincere thanks to Ekta, Alok, Natasha and Khuzem Sakarwala. To me they epitomise the Rotary spirit and make me proud to be a Rotarian.