Every 21 days, baby Nizam’s parents begin the same painful journey.

They leave their home in Karnataka’s Mandya district before sunrise and travel three and a half hours to Bengaluru, hoping that another blood transfusion will give their two-year-old son sustenance for the next 21 days. “If Nizam doesn’t get the blood transfusion on time, then he starts getting fevers, cold and coughs,” his mother Shaista Banu explains. 

Nizam was diagnosed with thalassemia, a lifelong blood disorder that has turned his childhood into a cycle of hospital visits, needles, medicines, and exhaustion. 

It isn’t just the blood transfusions his parents have to worry about; often Nizam even gets reactions to certain medicines that are prescribed. Currently, his stomach is swollen and needs treatment too. His tiny body is struggling to cope. His mother explains that the worry spills into the other areas of their life as well. “I don’t work because someone has to be home to care for Nizam. His father is a ticket collector at a toll centre and earns Rs 20,000 a month. Each transfusion costs around Rs 8,000. With the money that remains, we have to send our older child to school, pay the rent and manage the home expenses.” 

Nearly 40% of the family's monthly income disappears into medicines and transfusions alone. 

Over the past two years, every rupee they had saved has gone towards keeping Nizam alive.

“We have absolutely nothing left,” his mother shares. 

Doctors treating Nizam at Mazumdar Shaw Medical Hospital have told the family that there is one chance to free him from this exhausting cycle: a bone marrow transplant. The procedure could eliminate his dependence on regular blood transfusions and give him the opportunity to live a healthy childhood.

But that chance comes with an overwhelming price tag of Rs 31 lakh.

For Nizam's parents, the figure feels impossible to imagine. They are already struggling to meet everyday expenses while following the strict diet required for thalassemia, avoiding foods rich in iron and making repeated journeys to the hospital. No parent should have to choose between buying food, paying one child's school fees, or saving another child's life.

And your support can help ease the weight of this decision. Help Nizam today.