“Baba, don’t let go” – 3-year-old Syra’s Plea to Stay Alive

3-year-old Syra doesn’t ask for toys or cartoons anymore. She doesn’t know the name of her disease. But she only knows pain, the kind no child should ever have to carry. 

In April 2024, she was just a toddler when her parents, Anil and Aparna, found out their only child had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, an aggressive form of blood cancer.

She fought bravely through 4 intense rounds of chemotherapy with endless fevers, hospital visits, and sleepless nights. In December 2025, her parents finally heard the words they prayed for - ‘She’s cancer-free.’

But their relief was tragically short-lived.

Her cancer had relapsed as tumours in her brain and paralyzed her face

In January 2025, Syra’s smile began to fade. Her face stopped responding. One side drooped when she cried due to facial palsy. MRI scans revealed something worse than her parents could imagine - she had 2 tumours pressing against the back of her brain. 

Her cancer had relapsed and this time even more aggressively.

Her father was forced to give up his job as a godown manager to stay by her side

“We don’t have anything left. Just 3 injections of immunotherapy have cost us more than Rs.10 lakhs. They couldn’t afford Mumbai’s treatment anymore, so they moved to Pune and took a small rented place. Rent, travel, hospital stays - it’s all too much for me without a job.”- Anil, father

She holds onto her parents' hands at night terrified of waking up alone in the hospital

“After every chemo session, she ends up in the ICU burning with fever, her tiny heart racing, and her skin blackening. Her body is too weak to endure so many emergencies. At her age, being rushed to the ICU so often is not just terrifying, it's life-threatening. Even for a second, if she doesn’t see us by her hospital bedside, she starts crying in panic.”- Aparna, mother

Her immunity is fragile. Syra, already weak and underweight, is confined to the hospital room as even a single infection could be deadly.

‘We just beg for a chance to see our Syra grow up and this surgery can give us that’

Doctors now say that Syra’s only shot at life is an urgent CAR T-cell therapy followed by a bone marrow transplant for which they need Rs. 45 lakhs.

“She’s not scared of injections anymore. She just wants the pain to stop. She hasn’t slept peacefully in over a year. Her father happens to be a match. But a match means nothing without the means to save her” - whispers Aparna, her mother 

She doesn’t know that a world exists outside this hospital

There’s no school bag waiting for Syra. No birthday plans. No new dresses. She hasn’t held a crayon in months. But she still holds her father’s finger tightly and says, “Baba, don’t let go.”

Her Baba is desperately trying to not let go of her either. But that is not possible without your support.