Born to Live:Vighnesh Chavan

On Friday, 16^th March 2013, it was more than just a relief for us at Mumbai Smiles and moreover to Vighnesh’s parents to hear Dr. M. B. Agrawal a renowned Bone Marrow Transplant Specialist at Mumbai say that “Vighnesh doesn’t require Bone Marrow Transplant anymore and he is absolutely fine, with the reports showing no presence of cancerous cells after successful completion of 3 cycles of chemotherapy”. That is what we wanted to hear, that is what Vighnesh’s parents were dying to hear.

As you all are aware, Vighnesh Chavan a cute little kid from Mumbai, who was happily attending one of the balwadis run my Mumbai Smiles in the slums of Andheri was diagnosed with cancer. He had seen more than 5 doctors and got admitted to hospital twice for 15 days each, prior to his diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (a type of Blood Cancer). This Journey of Vighnesh from a happy go lucky child to a child diagnosed with cancer and now a “Cancer survivor” started in June 2012..

Vighnesh is too young and innocent to remember and to understand what was he suffering from. His health was very critical some time back and the timely treatment was extremely essential but his family did not have enough funds for the treatment. His mother; Mrs. Vaishali Chavan can never forget the day when her son was diagnosed with this dreadful disease. She quotes; “I could not believe this has happened to my child, what sin we have done that destiny gave my child this suffering and disease”

Mumbai Smiles appreciates the strong will of Vighnesh, his parents and also efforts from Holy Spirit Hospital thanks to which a Battle against Cancer was won finally. Vighnesh is now living his life as happily as before, playing and having fun with his family and friends. The series of events that took place in the life of Vighnesh’s family certainly gave them psychosocial as well as economic stress, but no one left their Hope and in the end as it is said “All well that ends well”, a day came which brought smiles and happiness for this little kid and his family.

Vighnesh’s innocence and his unawareness about the disease along with the blessings of his parents is the best medicine that helped him recover and win the battle in a short but certainly unforgettable period of around 9 month. Indeed he is born again after this gestational suffering period of 9 months and this he is definitely “Born to live”!