My baby has been in the hospital ever since he was born, help us save him

NOTE: Our baby is not even a month old. He has already undergone one surgery but without undergoing a second one in the next 2 weeks he may not survive.

I had never experienced extreme joy and extreme sadness in such a short span of time. When my baby boy was born just a few short weeks ago, I was thrilled and forgot all about the pain that I had endured just a short while back. I wanted to hold him and give him a kiss, however, the doctors did not give him to me and looked tense. They told me that they needed to run a few tests on him. At that moment the joy of having become a mother was immediately replaced by the fear of losing my newborn baby.

“He was born with multiple medical abnormalities. He had a tear in the stomach and his intestines are underdeveloped due to which he is critical.” – Sushmitha, mother

When the doctors informed us about our baby’s condition, we were shocked to know that he was already fighting for his life. We both felt empty from within. The doctors gave us a moment to take it all in before advising us to get our baby admitted in a hospital with a NICU as they wouldn’t be able to treat him properly here.

Our baby hadn’t even completed a day in this world and was already on his way to his 2nd hospital. In Chennai, the doctors told us that his body was releasing chemicals into his bloodstream to fight the infection, which in turn was harming his organs. He had developed a life-threatening condition called sepsis. We didn’t know what exactly sepsis was, we just knew that our baby had yet another problem and we feared for his life. Our voices trembled as we asked the doctors if there was any hope for our hours old baby and pleaded with them to do whatever they could to ease his pain.

“I close my eyes as I cannot bear to look at the scar on my baby’s stomach.” –Sushmitha, mother

The doctors told us that our baby would need to be admitted for at least 3 weeks. 4 days later, our tiny baby underwent major surgery to fix his stomach tear. We were panic-stricken as we waited outside the operation theatre and tried not to think of the worst. It was agonizing to sit there with questions in our head, “Will our baby survive?” “Would one of his medical condition be cured?”

“It seems as though my baby is reaching out to me for help.”- Sushmitha, mother

When the light of the operation theatre went out we shivered with fear and stood up. Fortunately, the doctor had a smile on his face when he came out and told us that the surgery was successful. He further explained that they would have to wait for the intestine surgery for about 3-4 weeks, till our baby’s infections were cured. After the first surgery, we took a small room on rent as we cannot make our other 2 children live in the hospital’s waiting room.

“I work in a tea shop in Chennai and earn barely Rs 100 a day. How will I ever be able to arrange Rs 6 lakh to fund his treatment”- C.H. Periaiah, father 

Our baby has been in the hospital for almost a month now and we are eagerly waiting for the day we can take him home. However, this will only be possible once he is completely cured. We do not have the money to pay for his surgery. The total cost of our baby’s treatment is Rs 6 lakh ($ 8,704).

My husband is the only earning member of our family of 5. He was a farmer in Andhra Pradesh and used to earn Rs 3,500 ($ 51) a month. After moving to Chennai, he cannot just sit idle and watch our youngest child fight for his life and so he started working at a tea shop near the hospital.

Our baby was born just a few weeks ago and is already in immense pain. He lies inside an incubator and every delay in his treatment is further complicating his medical condition. We are terrified that we may lose him and urge you to donate generously to help us save our little angel.

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