My nephew, Pratham Mehta, a 15 years and full of life, young boy has been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer - Ewing Sarcoma which grows inside bones.

Just to give you a bit of a background on how it all came about:

During November 2015 Pratham started feeling severe pain in his right leg. We thought it could be because he used to play lots of outdoor games and like what’s usually done is most of our families, we too started with all sorts of home remedies but nothing seemed to help. As a next step, we consulted the family GP/doctor who recommended Physiotherapy exercise but it just got worse. Now this was getting a bit worrying for us so we consulted a child specialist doctor who asked us to get the MRI done. This is when the world came crashing down for his parents and for all of us. MRI followed by biopsy confirmed Ewing Sarcoma Cancer. It was all over his leg, back and back of the neck.

This certainly is the worst kind of news any parents could ever hear in their lifetime and this was just the beginning of their nightmare. Naturally, Pratham's parents, grandparents and all friends and family were devastated by this news. There could be two ways of approaching this, to be open and accepting or to go into denial. I guess his parents went into denial. They decided to not let Pratham know about his cancer and as their family supported this. However Pratham is a very bright child with all sorts of curiosity and questions, he figured out that something was seriously wrong. Eventually he found out. We dreaded his reaction and were not prepared for the meltdown but he surprised us all. He took a very positive approach and decided to be a fighter. As parents, dealing with accepting the fact that your child has cancer is unbelievably heart-breaking and to see your child accept it with a smile, though helps, is even more heart-breaking.

All the necessary treatments like Chemotherapy and Radiations started. Pratham belongs to a modest, middle-class and hardworking family with limited means. His father worked as full time Accountant. However following the diagnosis he had to give up on the full time job and started a part time job to be with his son. His mum used to run beauty salon but she too had to discontinue that to look after her child. While they were going through the pain and fear of losing their child, limited finances were making them completely helpless. However, both his parents felt very uncomfortable asking for any financial help from anyone because of their self-respect. They tried all possible ways to deal with it within their own means.

Pratham’s cancer treatment started on 9th March 2016 and the Chemotherapy on 23rd March 2016. From March 2016 to August 2017, Pratham had total 18 chemos (5 days of treatment every 21 days) and 32 radiations. By God’s grace, miraculously and unexpectedly the treatment was successful and Parham started to feel like a normal child. He was looking forward to going back to his school and playground.

His parents and the rest of us couldn’t stop thanking God for this and though a bit sceptical, started celebrating his new life.

But the worst was not over. By end of October 2017 he again started feeling severe pain and this time in his hand. Cancer was back! It was completely heart breaking for his parents and all of us who were with him through his treatment journey in these last 18 months. This time the cancer has widely spread across the body. It has got to the point where even the doctors have indirectly suggested to give up on him rather than waste money as there doesn’t seem to be much hope. But like any other parent would, his parents refuse to give up and have decided to fight till their last breath and their last penny. Although they are putting up a brave face, at times they do break down but Pratham being a fighter, gives them strength and hope that everything will be ok one day.

This time it's a bone cancer Chemo therapy has already started. As I mentioned earlier, his parents were feeling a bit ashamed to ask for financial help however now their means have come to an end. And so I decided to take it upon me to try and get financial help for them.

As a parent, seeing your child go through this is shattering enough, I am hoping they don’t have to deal with the financial dilemma where one has to decide to give up on their own child just because they cannot afford the treatment. This certainly would be even worse than the grief of cancer itself.

I can go on and on about this but am really making myself stop here.

All I want to say now is please please try to help Pratham and his parents. While his parents are dealing with the emotional side of this, let’s try to help them not go through the financial difficulties as well.

Any help/donation is welcome. Nothing is too little.

If any of you want any further information on this, please feel free to get in touch with me. My contact details are as below :

Vishal Shah (shahvishal83@gmail.com)