A mother’s struggle to keep her newborn son’s heart beating

Mamata is a new mother. And like all new mothers, she is happy and scared. She had spent the last few months of her life preparing to be a good mother, gathering the strength it takes to raise, love and protect a child.

But, all her preparations proved to be insufficient when she heard that her child was born with a heart defect. All the strength she had gathered, melted, as she broke down in tears.

On the 13th May, a handsome baby boy was put into Mamata's arms. And the very next day, he was taken away to the NICU. The baby couldn't breathe and had to be put on a ventilator which would ease his breathing and keep his little heart breathing.

Mamata was instructed to go into the NICU every two hours to feed her baby boy. Her child would hardly take in any milk and she would often have to leave as he would burst out crying and the nurse would come rushing in. "It was painful for me to not be able to sooth my child and make him stop crying," says Mamata.

But the boy had to be put back to the ventilator. Mamata's baby fights congenital heart defect, a problem that is caused at birth and needs an immediate heart surgery.

"The doctor told us that he is still too small for the surgery to be performed but they need to get it done as soon as possible to save his life."

Mamata is scared of how her little son, who she can't even hold properly in her arms, will go through this surgery.

And, that's not her only worry. She needs to immediately raise close to Rs. 5 lakhs for the treatment. The family has drained all their money in hospital charges so far. Each day of NICU treatment costs them Rs. 25,000 and all their savings are exhausted.

"My husband has a small job as a DTH operator and he doesn't earn enough to gather lakhs of rupees in a few days," says Mamata. Seeing their poor condition, her brother-in-law lent them Rs. 1.5 lakhs to keep the treatment going.

"My brother-in-law even sold his wife's jewels to help us. But he is now drained too. We have nowhere to go now."

Mamata hopes that somehow they can raise the funds so her 15-day-old son can be saved. Her child's life and laughter is all this mother wants.

If you'd like to help Mamata save her son, make a contribution to help her.