My son's only kidney is failing. Help him get a new one through transplant

“I miss going to school. I should be writing my 10th board exams this year. Instead, I'm here in the hospital...pricked continuously with painful injections, taking bitter medicines and having a catheter attached to my body. I don’t know how long I’m going to suffer and make my family suffer too. I hope God helps me get well soon,” says Ashutosh Omprakash Tiwari, who is awaiting a new kidney to survive his renal failure.

Only a kidney transplant can save him

16-year-old Ashutosh has been diagnosed with chronic renal failure. He was born with only one functioning kidney which too might stop working soon. He is holding on only with the help of dialysis, a way to remove waste products from his blood since his kidney cannot. But his condition is worsening each day and he needs a kidney transplant at the earliest to survive.

“A few months back, his legs started swelling. He couldn’t move them. We got scared and took him to the hospital. After numerous tests the doctors told us that my son has only one kidney and he needs an immediate transplant. But what’s more painful is that both me and my husband have diabetes and we cannot be our son’s donors. I feel like a cursed soul who cannot save her own son’s life while he is dying in front of me,” says Seema, Ashutosh’s mother.

Now his pancreas too has started swelling

Ashutosh is in unbearable pain. He undergoes dialysis everyday, where a plastic tube called a catheter is placed in his stomach through surgery. It's through this that excess toxins and blood are filtered. This will help him survive till he gets a new kidney but for the last few weeks his pancreas has started swelling making it difficult for him to receive continuous dialysis. 

“For every inch I move, I feel like a hundred needles pricking my body. But what’s more painful is seeing my whole family suffer because of me. I haven’t seen my papa’s face in months. He refuses to visit the hospital...he cannot bear to see me like this. My bhaiya is only 20 years old but he’s working hard to pay my medical bills and feed our family. I pray each day that god helps me save my life so that I can stop troubling them,” says Ashutosh

Ashutosh’s father Omprakash Tiwari suffers from chronic depression and mental illness. His son’s state has only escalated his condition and now he hardly comes out of his house, let alone goes for a job.

Battling between poverty & mounting medical bills

“Every two months we need to pay ₹60,000 for Ashu’s treatment. So far, we managed by selling my jewels, pledging our only house and borrowing money from relatives. Even most of Aadarsh’s salary goes into paying the hospital bills. We try to save. We go to sleep with empty stomachs. But still we cannot afford that huge sum that will save my son’s life,” says Seema.

Ashutosh’s renal transplant will cost around ₹20 lakhs but his poor family is struggling to afford it. While the hospital has found a donor for him, he cannot receive it unless the full sum is paid. It’s his only chance and he needs to grab it soon to survive. 

You can save his life

“I wish to live. I want to study, get a job, earn and look after my family. I want to give them back everything they lost because of me and my treatment. I want to take them on trips, show them new places....I have dreams. But I cannot fulfil them if I die. Please don’t let me die. Help me receive a new kidney,” pleads Ashutosh.