She gets weaker with each chemotherapy cycle, but seeing herself in the mirror is what she hates the most.
One day I overheard my daughter’s interaction with a nurse. I had tears in my eyes when she said, “I want to save as many people as I can, there are many people who are unwell here, I haven’t seen anyone smile yet.” At the tender age of 4, my child understands what patients have to go through in a hospital. She wants to become a doctor and convert their gloom to smiles.
My angel was diagnosed on 13th October 2017. She’s a victim of Stage Four High-Risk Neuroblastoma and has survived one operation and multiple chemotherapy cycles so far. She gets weaker with each chemotherapy cycle, but seeing herself in the mirror is what she hates the most. Her hands have become dark because of the side effects. She fears her daily injections and has reached a stage where she’s just exhausted. Doctors have advised a Bone Marrow Transplant now, as the chemotherapy has only a 20% chance of saving her life.
My daughter’s diagnosis has left our family completely shattered. One morning, she came crying to me as I was reading the newspaper. I took her to the local doctor twice after which she still wasn’t getting any relief. On taking her to the M.D, a test of sonography left us in shock. She had to undergo a surgery for a stomach operation. However, on coming to Mumbai we learned she’s suffering from a type of tumor cancer.
With your help in the form of donations, Avani can win the battle against this terrible disease.
My name is Somnath Gatte and I’m her father. I work as an operator at MSEB and earn an income of Rs. 25,000. Being the sole earning member for a family of 8, on a normal basis I’ve never been able to make any savings. I have various costs to incur, like the schooling of my 3 children, house rent and a number of bills. Each chemotherapy session costs around Rs. 10,000. In total, I’ve managed to gather and spend Rs. 2 lakh for the treatment with the help of my friends and family. The bone marrow transplant will cost a whopping 15 lakhs. I’m not even close to meeting this life-saving amount!
Avani’s two siblings miss her a lot. They are back in Solapur, studying. “When will Avani come back home?”, they often ask me. My 14-year-old son called me a few days before his birthday and said, “Tell Avani that I’ll give her all the gifts I receive this year. Just ask her to come home.”
Somnath Ghatte is struggling to support his daughter’s BMT treatment. You can help him by donating generously to his fundraiser.
Our struggles don’t end here. Since we do not have a place to live, we are living at Gadge Maharaj Trust and trying to curb our expenses as much as possible. My daughter wants to run away from this hospital and get back to school. As she’s ambitious about being a doctor, I’ve planned to educate her well and support her in her dream. Please help me save her by donating generously.
You can help Somnath by donating to his fundraiser on Ketto here.