I first met Charles, sometime in September 2010, when we had just about initiated Doctors for Seva. At that time, we had only about 1 or 2 doctors and Anand and me in the name of a "team".
Charles was a very lean man, aged about 30 and spoke reasonably good English. He walked in to the office one morning asking for me, and when we did meet and shake hands, the first thing he said was "I am at an advanced stage of Brain Tumour. The doctors have given me a week's time, and if I'm not able to do the surgery by then, I may not make it." Stunned, I stared at him. Then he said "I heard from someone that you have a team which can help me arrange funds for the surgery. I hope you can help me raise Rs.60,000 in one week".
True, I wanted to started a health team which can cater to any needy person...True, I was hoping that some day we'll get to a stage where we'll have surgeons and hospitals willing to take up cases such as Charles. But, we had only just started, and no way was the "team" capable of handling such a case. Worse still, I began feeling that this person has for some reason come to me, and if I can't help him, I don't know if I'll have the courage to do anything further in the name of Doctors for Seva.
Most people felt that I was somewhat mad for taking up Charles' case, many told me that I'm acting purely on impulse, some good friends thought I'm going through depression, and some said that even if I did miraculously (back then, it seemed like a miracle to raise Rs.60,000 in a week!) manage to raise the amount, it is not the right way of going about such work.
They were quite right. I was somewhat mad.
But it takes some amount of madness to do what seems impossible. My "contacts" back then were volunteers Anand and Vikshut, who went about spreading the message among their friends circle and work place, and we did raise a little more that Rs.60,000/- in just about a weeks time. It certainly wasn't easy. But all who donated (about 23 of them) understood how genuine the case was, and that making an effort to give another human a chance at living, was a cause totally worth it.
Anand did some amazing stuff in following up with Charles, visiting his hospital, speaking to his surgeon, being with him on the day of the surgery, and doing all the running around for him. You see, Charles' family is not in Bangalore and he didn't want to get them worried. So Anand pretty much became his family during that time.
I met Charles just before his surgery, and he was so positive that he'll make it. It didn't leave a single doubt in my mind about the work we'd put in for raising funds for him.
He underwent the surgery. Anand, Vikshut and I met him at the hospital after the surgery with a bunch of flowers, a large card with best wishes from all the donors, and some books which he told me he'd like to read while in the hospital.
I spoke to Charles a few weeks back. He underwent a second surgery (this time with his own money), and he is doing well. He remains extremely positive and enthusiastic about life.
Charles was worth it. My madness was worth it.
Not many know, but this was one of those incidents that really motivated me to create a Doctors for Seva network. Today, if Charles came to us, we would have had multiple options to help him out. And I'm so glad we've gotten there.
Thank you, Charles, for making me believe.
- Sinu
Charles was a very lean man, aged about 30 and spoke reasonably good English. He walked in to the office one morning asking for me, and when we did meet and shake hands, the first thing he said was "I am at an advanced stage of Brain Tumour. The doctors have given me a week's time, and if I'm not able to do the surgery by then, I may not make it." Stunned, I stared at him. Then he said "I heard from someone that you have a team which can help me arrange funds for the surgery. I hope you can help me raise Rs.60,000 in one week".
True, I wanted to started a health team which can cater to any needy person...True, I was hoping that some day we'll get to a stage where we'll have surgeons and hospitals willing to take up cases such as Charles. But, we had only just started, and no way was the "team" capable of handling such a case. Worse still, I began feeling that this person has for some reason come to me, and if I can't help him, I don't know if I'll have the courage to do anything further in the name of Doctors for Seva.
Most people felt that I was somewhat mad for taking up Charles' case, many told me that I'm acting purely on impulse, some good friends thought I'm going through depression, and some said that even if I did miraculously (back then, it seemed like a miracle to raise Rs.60,000 in a week!) manage to raise the amount, it is not the right way of going about such work.
They were quite right. I was somewhat mad.
But it takes some amount of madness to do what seems impossible. My "contacts" back then were volunteers Anand and Vikshut, who went about spreading the message among their friends circle and work place, and we did raise a little more that Rs.60,000/- in just about a weeks time. It certainly wasn't easy. But all who donated (about 23 of them) understood how genuine the case was, and that making an effort to give another human a chance at living, was a cause totally worth it.
Anand did some amazing stuff in following up with Charles, visiting his hospital, speaking to his surgeon, being with him on the day of the surgery, and doing all the running around for him. You see, Charles' family is not in Bangalore and he didn't want to get them worried. So Anand pretty much became his family during that time.
I met Charles just before his surgery, and he was so positive that he'll make it. It didn't leave a single doubt in my mind about the work we'd put in for raising funds for him.
He underwent the surgery. Anand, Vikshut and I met him at the hospital after the surgery with a bunch of flowers, a large card with best wishes from all the donors, and some books which he told me he'd like to read while in the hospital.
I spoke to Charles a few weeks back. He underwent a second surgery (this time with his own money), and he is doing well. He remains extremely positive and enthusiastic about life.
Charles was worth it. My madness was worth it.
Not many know, but this was one of those incidents that really motivated me to create a Doctors for Seva network. Today, if Charles came to us, we would have had multiple options to help him out. And I'm so glad we've gotten there.
Thank you, Charles, for making me believe.
- Sinu
Extremely proud of you all.... Keep the good work going.
ReplyDeleteThanks for proving me how wrong & short-sighted I was & not to mention how scared I was to think of this project ending up as a failure.
Hats off...Take a bow!!!
-Vivek