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THE MUSH REGISTER

Bhanu Mathy

Our first son Hemnath was suffering from a mystifying form of fever. Sustained, heavy medication did not check his abnormally high body temperature. Finally, a bone marrow test revealed his illness to be leukaemia. We were distraught. My father-in-law fell at a doctor's feet, pleading with him to somehow save the five-year-old boy. The treatment was protracted. Every 15 days or so, Hemnath would require blood transfusion. Sometimes his condition would necessitate one in just seven days. After a point, his body was ejecting blood. When there was an unmistakable flow from his gums, he would reassure us, "Didn't I have grape juice? It is because of it." In his last days, he amazed us with his mental aptitude and maturity.

A flame shines the brightest just before it is going to flicker and die. The night before he passed away, he said something that we now assume had a hidden meaning.

He said, "I see people standing outside." And then, he added tersely, "You pray. I will not disturb you any more".

Hari Haran

Hemnath received the best treatment at the Child Trust Hospital for a year. Bhanu and I were literally living on the premises. During this time, we witnessed great sufferings. Leukaemia patients might require blood at unexpected times. When blood was in short supply, one had to hunt for it. Most of the time, we had to pay a small commission. Since we are from a middle-class background, we could afford it. But many of the other young patients were from South Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh and hailed from families that depended on agriculture for a living. Invariably, father and mother would be attending on the children, which meant that the land lay idle and no income was being generated. These families were under severe strain.

After we lost out son to this disease, we decided to alleviate the sufferings of such people in a small measure. In our son's memory, we formed Cross Blood Foundation (26504400/ 944413344/ 9840840059), which gets people to donate blood and also organises blood donation camps.

AS TOLD TO PRINCE FREDERICK

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