Helping Radhika

Radhika suffers from Polydactyly

Radhika is a beautiful 5 years old child. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that she is a ‘miracle’ girl who stands apart from most of the children her age. Immensely loved by her mother and grand-father, this innocent child, sadly has no school to go to and no friends to play with.

Her uniqueness is what has left her rejected from experiencing happiness that most kids her age take for granted. Radhika suffers from a rare condition called Polydactyly and because of it she has a total of 32 fingers/toes on her hands/legs instead of 20. Plus underdevelopment of her cleft palate (upper portion inside the mouth), has impaired her speech.

However her deformity has not dampened her spirits in any sorts. She is apparently very talkative, helps her mother in house-hold chores and loves to eat fish. But proper education is what she requires the most at this young age. Radhika’s mother Anita Dhangar who works a maid barely earning Rs. 2000 a month, along with her father has taken care of Radhika since birth. Krishna, an auto rickshaw distanced himself from his daughter because of her physical defect.

Anita approached tons of schools in Mumbai city for her daughter’s admission but was turned down by all of them. Making life even more miserable for young Radhika is the fact that no child wants to play with her and therefore her mother takes her along with her to work, to avoid being teased by neighbors.

Dr Suresh Shah, a pediatrician said that Polydactyly is a result of a defect that occurs during pregnancy. In such cases, there is the possibility of the child having kidney problems, which can be detected only after a sonography. However their physical deformity can be corrected with Plastic Surgery.

But I guess it’s all easy said than done in Radhika’s case, whose mother under no-circumstances can afford to be the costs of expensive Plastic Surgery.

Me around 6 years old

I in some-ways can relate to Radhika’s feelings of being rejected and teased by other kids when I was around same age as her. I too suffered from a rare condition whereby I had six-fingers in each hand. The tiny extra fingers were in a shape of rugby ball with no bones but with nails and use to hang from my palm like a bell. I use to get teased at school and in my housing society by my friends and even adults at times. It’s truly shocking to see that young children cause of their lack of ignorance can be so crude at times.

But thankfully my parents were always there to remind me that there was nothing wrong with me, the fault lies with others because they are simply jealous of the fact that I am different, I am lucky. And with time people accepted me the way I was.

All I can say for Radhika is that her future now rests in the hands of us Mumbaikars who should come forward and help her gain proper education and support that every child deserves.

A little Progress for Radhika

Inspite of mailing Mumbai Mirror a couple of times asking for details on Radhika, I got nothing in return. So without wasting anymore time just waiting, I decided to search for her on my own. I guess there are certain things in life, where you have to work by your gutt feeling and something in mean just wanted to reach out to this kid - no matter what.

On Tuesday morning I dropped by K.D.N Shruti School (for the Deaf) in Juhu, this is the school that informed Mumbai Mirror about Radhika’s condition. At the school I met up with Ms. Vandana Havinawe, a speech therapist. To say that she was really helpful would be an understatement. Vandana sat with me for nearly an hour, explaining Radhika’s physical problems, her economic background, ways in which people could offer to help, etc. She also gave me Radhika’s father’s cell number along with the writer Mr. Vaman Phadke, who wrote the article in Mumbai Mirror.

Vandana informed me that the school was very keen to help Radhika’s family and would be there to guide me with respect to what-ever information/assistance was needed. She along with another teacher from the school suggested that it would be better to help with the operation expenses and school expenses rather then giving the collected money to Radhika’s family directly. After all our major concern here is the girl’s progress and it’s our job to see that the money is not mis-used by her family members.

The next appropriate step was to call up Radhika’s family and arrange a meeting with them basically to know if others like us had managed to get in touch with offering any sorts of help. The meeting was fixed for Wednesday morning 10.00 am. After leaving the school, I called up Mr. Vaman (writer for Mumbai Mirror) who was kind enough to take my call and promised to mail me details of individuals who called in to help Radhika’s family. However, till the very end of the day I received to no mail or call from Mr. Vaman.

Anyway, I reached the school on time today morning for my meeting with the wonder girl Radhika. Barely slept at night, was just so damn eager to let her and her family know that people are there to help them and that everything will work out just fine. Around 10.40 am, Radhika along with her mother Anita, aunt Nisha and father Krishna walked into the room. The first of the little girl is just so hard for me to describe to you guys, after a long time I am actually at loss of words. For first few seconds, I just could not get my eyes off her and from no where they were filled with tears. Radhika is a complete bundle of energy, running around the room with excitement, playing with toys given to her by Vandana; completely oblivious of her physical limitations. Believe me; she could actually give us some lessons on how to live life without a damn care in this world.

Most of the talking was done by Nisha, a young (around 15 years) but very smart girl for her age. She informed that after the article, quite a few television channels came over to their place and filmed Radhika, couple of charity institutions and schools also got in touch with them. Even a medical surgeon named Dr. Milind S. Wagh from L. H. Hiranandani hospital thru Mumbai Mirror has offered free medical surgery from his end, only the medical expenses of the hospital would be borne by the family.

However Radhika’s parents seemed a bit confused, as in to get going with her education or to get done with the surgery. I and Vandana advised them to start on which the surgery since Radhika is only 5 years old now, this was the right time. At least they should get in touch with Dr. Wagh and get more information regarding the surgery and its duration, expenses, etc. But frankly I am not sure how well I was able to convince them.

So I have decided that I will have a word with Dr. Wagh myself and get an appointment for Radhika as soon as possible. And things can be taken on further from there. I was also given a mobile number of a person who had called up Radhika’s dad offering financial assistance. On calling up, a gentleman named Neil gave me some really positive news; his boss is ready to help with the entire financial costs of Radhika’s surgery. I gave him the concerned doctor’s details and have also asked him to get in touch with him and later inform me about it.

For now the main priority, should be to get Radhika checked up by Dr. Wagh, who would be able to give us better and detailed understanding regarding the entire surgery process. On the other hand, we can also get in touch with schools that have offered to give Radhika admission and free education.

I shall keep you all informed with further updates and would also like to thank you for your genuine interest and sincere concern for Radhika. It’s completely amazing and gratifying to see people from all walks of life, ready to offer help to someone who is a complete stranger to them. Such efforts help us believe in the concept of ‘humanity’ even in this day and age.

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