‘I talk to him daily, hoping for a miracle’: a mother’s desperate struggle to save her son from Coldrif poisoning

Radha’s husband, Gokul, was lodged in Multai jail over a family feud when Harsh fell ill. He came to see his critically ill son only once, that too for just an hour after he was granted bail. This was two days after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav visited the AIIMS in Nagpur to meet children from his state who were admitted for treatment after consuming the toxic cough syrup.

Gokul has now secured long-term bail and is on his way to Nagpur to finally meet his son, while all Radha says during a normal interaction is: “Bete ko thik karke hi leke jaaungi (I will return only after my son is cured).”

“The Madhya Pradesh government transferred around Rs 1 lakh for the treatment, which covered the cost of treating Harsh at the private hospital here in Nagpur. He was admitted to New Health City Hospital for seven days, when they told us that they don’t have the machine to treat him,” she said.

Since October 7, Harsh has been at AIIMS. His condition is still critical, doctors said. The boy was brought to Nagpur on October 1 after Dr Soni informed Radha that both of his kidneys were not functioning. Due to a lack of funds, the mother took her son to Betul, but when all the doctors gave up, she had no option but to seek financial help and bring her son to Nagpur.

Radha said she has been by her son’s side even as other family members came and went. She shares her joy, with a hint of scepticism: that her son has shown some progress, and her husband has finally secured bail and would soon join her in Nagpur.

Gokul was jailed three months ago, even before Harsh fell ill. He was lodged in Multai jail after a family feud. “We even attached the child’s medical report for the bail. The doctor wrote down everything: that the son is serious, admitted in Nagpur, and so on, and then we believe, the bail was granted,” she said.

Radha added that she and her husband earn their living by farming and have a two-acre farm in their village. However, since Gokul was already in jail and she was here, nobody worked on the farm, and she did not have money anymore.

‘I just want to be by his side, all the time’

“I live here in the hospital. My brother-in-law had given me some money before he left. I get a meal plate for my son here, which I use. There is a Dharamshala nearby (hosted by the hospital itself, which offers affordable accommodation for patients and their caregivers), and we get food there. Still, I don’t feel like leaving my son. I just want to be by his side, all the time,” Radha added, her voice tinged with emotion.

Asked why she does not sleep at the Dharamshala, she says, “I go check on Harsh four-five times even during the night, and I sit by him during the day too. I call out to him and talk to him, even if he does not respond. I say to him, ‘Betu (son), open your eyes, we have to go home.’ He does not look or respond to anything, but I talk to him daily, hoping for a miracle.”

Radha said no one from the Madhya Pradesh government had called them. “Someone took down the number when the chief minister came for a visit, but no one has called us.”

Harsh’s younger brother, Pratik, who is 1.5 years old, is with his grandmother in the village. “I talk to him over the phone, I long for him too. But at least I know he is being taken care of by his dadi. My father-in-law came with me earlier when Harsh fell ill, but the stress got to him. He was partially paralysed and was admitted for seven days in Betul,” Radha said.

“The patient who was shifted upstairs (Kunal Yaduwanshi) is from Parasia. I talk to them and keep asking about him. Since he is getting better, I also have hope that my son will get better. I am thinking that when Harsh’s father comes, I will go meet him and his parents,” she added.

Some improvements, but condition still critical

Talking to The Indian Express, a senior AIIMS official said, “Harsh is still very critical. His kidney function has improved. I would still not say it has normalised, but he does not need any dialysis support, and he is passing urine on his own. But the major concern is still his brain function. He is still on ventilator because he is unable to breathe on his own. We are just trying to give him some occasions where we want to see whether he can trigger his own breath.”

“We are giving him brief breaks from the ventilator to see whether it is triggering his breath. The day before yesterday, for the first time, we thought that he was trying to trigger breath. It is a very recent development, and nothing really can be said about that yet,” the official added.

Kunal is doing slightly better. “He is only on oxygen, not on any respiratory support. His kidney function has normalised now, and his brain function is slowly improving in the sense that he moves his limbs on his own. Earlier, he was like the other kid. Absolutely no brain activity could be detected, but now he can move his limbs, and occasionally he responds to commands. The child, however, is malnourished due to prolonged ventilator care support. He still has a long way to go,” the doctor said.

“We don’t want to comment on whether there is hope. We are just taking it one day at a time for Harsh. For Kunal, there is hope for survival. The parents are also very hopeful. I think we will wait till he is ready to get discharged. Then, we could definitely say that he has survived,” the doctor stated.

Both kids required quite long-term kidney support (Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy) and ventilator support because their brain functions are as bad as the kidneys, doctors indicated. “We only read about the drug causing damage to the kidney, but it also caused significant brain damage as well,” the doctor said. “We are just hoping that we can discharge them at some point.”

‘Madhya Pradesh govt taking care of treatment’

During her chat with The Indian Express, Radha said she has to buy a packet of diapers for Harsh once every two days. The Indian Express, over this information, reached out to the AIIMS officials.

“Their bills of treatment are being generated internally and are being credited to the tab of the Madhya Pradesh government. We had received a letter from the MP government stating that the treatment of all these patients, and whatever they need, will be taken care of by the government,” the official added.

“Whatever payment the relatives of the patient have made, even for things like diapers, will be reimbursed,” the official assured.

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