Tribute to Mothers

Even as Mother’s Day is being celebrated with pomp and gaiety on Sunday across the world, here is a story about the silent suffering of nearly 60 mothers who arrive in the city every day at Purani Haveli to get safe blood for their children from the Thalassemia Sickle Cell Society.

These mothers, young and old, flock to the city from far off places in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana every fortnight to help their Thalassemia children get a fresh dose of blood transfusion. There are nearly 2,500 mothers who arrive here every month to see a healthy smile of the face of their wards.

Some of them have been coming down to the city for as long as nine years. They have proved that every day needs to be observed as Mother’s Day, given the strong sense of bonding and selflessness towards their children who are suffering from the rare blood disorder.

These mothers visit the center, exclusively working for Thalassemia patients, once every fortnight for blood transfusion. Sharing their travails, a young mother Raheema Begum from Jagtial town of Karimnagar district, said she has been bringing her eight-year-old Thalassemia positive son Shadul for the past seven years for keeping her son alive.

She said that her son needs blood once or twice every fortnight and she has to rush to city for blood. “If I delay even for two days, my boy starts fainting and he turns pale,” she said.

The ongoing RTC staff strike has become a curse on such families who cannot afford alternative means of transport. Kacheguda, the nearest railway station that is well connected by public transport is nearly 4 km away and parents of these ailing children are being forced to cough up large sums because of the exorbitant rates being charges by auto drivers.

Another mother, Lakshmi Devi, a native of Eluru, arrived in the city along with her Thalassemia positive seven-year-old son Uday Kumar. She too shared similar woes and has been visiting the city once every month for the past five years.

She said, “We have to take the patient to the city for getting blood for them as it is a rare disease and only blood donated by people will save his life. Whether it’s Bus strike or any other strike we cannot wait for things to turn favorable for us.”

Another woman, who too shares a similar name, Lakshmi Devi, is a resident of Kadapa town, has been bringing her nine-year-old grand-daughter Sreeja for blood transfusion to the city for nearly five years.

The Thalassemia Sickle Cell Society formed by the parents of Thalassemia positive children in the city has been providing safe blood to nearly 2,500 registered patients from across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Society secretary Aleem Baig, whose two daughters are also Thalassemia positive, said that procuring safe blood and proper funds were some of the major challenges being faced by them.

He said that lack of awareness on marriages among close relatives in the family has been identified as a major reason for Thalassemia.

He called upon all young women before marriage to go in for a pathological test called Hb A2 to identify whether they are a carrier of the disease. If a marriage is performed between two carriers, it may result in children with Thalassemia, he said.