Note: 82% of conjoined twins die within 24 hours of birth. Preeti’s son is alive but needs surgery urgently.
September 9th, 2021
It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. After hours of labour, I gave birth. I was so tired but I couldn’t wait to hold my newborn. But when my eyes fell on my son, I screamed out in shock.
At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. “I can see one head.. But two bodies.. Why is my son's stomach joined to another body?" I thought.
I called for my husband who came running to me just as the nurses left the room with my newborn baby.
When my husband saw our child, he froze. “Our son..”, he said, “What is happening?"
That’s when our troubles began.
I was sobbing heavily when the doctors returned to our room, without my baby.
“Your baby was born as a conjoined twin (i.e. two babies physically joined to each other). The other child, sadly, did not develop properly. Only half of his body developed & it is fused with your son's stomach. That's why he's in critical condition..”
Before this day, I had never even heard the term ‘conjoined twins’. Now I was being told that without urgent surgery, my only surviving son would also die.
“I’m so sorry, Preeti Ma’am. I know this is not what you wanted to hear. But, there is hope. If we can perform a surgery soon, we can separate them and your son will have his body back”, the doctors said.
In India, only ~5000 conjoined twins are born in a year. Most of them die within 24 hours.
“Ma’am, we recommend doing the surgery as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more critical your son’s condition will become. We put him on a ventilator but he is already so weak.”
We agreed to have the surgery. But then, we were hit with a second blow.
The cost of this highly-specialized, critical surgery is INR 40,00,000.00.
During the pandemic-related lockdowns, my husband lost a lot of income. We only had enough to feed ourselves.
We don’t have INR 40,00,000.00 for this life-saving surgery.
September 14, 2021
My son is still on a ventilator, waiting to get his body back.
Rs 40 lakh is a painfully high amount for us. My husband and I have been begging friends to lend us money but whatever we had has been used for his hospital admission and mine.
Please, if you can help, please donate to us. We are desperate for our son to have this surgery as soon as possible. Every bit you give us will be used only for his treatment. Without this surgery, my baby will die and I will never be able to forgive myself.
The specifics of this case have been verified by the medical team at the concerned hospital. For any clarification on the treatment or associated costs, contact the campaign organizer or the medical team.
Charity No: 81680928
Note: Donations towards this fundraiser are not eligible for any tax deduction such as 80G, 501(c), etc..
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