With Balamurugan's father having died, his widowed mother who works as a
cleaner at a bank, went relentlessly from donor to donor, seeking help to
save her son's life. It took her more than a year to collect Rs. 5 lakhs for
the medical expenses. Balamurugan was operated upon on 21 September 2001 at
the Madras Medical Mission in Chennai. Doctors transplanted the heart and
lungs from a brain-dead patient. He made gradual recovery in the hospital for
over four months after which he was discharged and returned home at
Sundakkamuthur. Madras Medical Mission waived the major portion of the
hospital and operation charges (over Rs.10 lakhs).
Balamurugan now needs help to buy medicines. The monthly requirement of
medicine cost is about Rs 11,000/- not a small amount by any standards and
beyond the means of Balamurugan and his mother. The requirement will diminish
based on the postoperative recovery by Balamurugan.
Report in The Hindu -
A second life
Come January 2003, Balamurugan will be in deep trouble, as even the
donation that was forthcoming so far will stop.
After receiving following appeal from Colonel (Retd) Sridharan (who
coordinates efforts to mobilize funds for Balamurugan) IndiaCause.com
offered Balamurugan a helping hand to set up a petty shop with items that he
can sell and earn some money for his living.
We are hoping many more donors will come forward to help this deserving
family.
Please forward this appeal to your family and friends. Those willing to
help please contact Colonel (Retd) Sridharan at the details below. If anyone
has contacts with Pharmaceutical companies that can help in providing the
medicines, please let Col Sridharan know about such possibility.
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Colonel (Retd) A Sridharan (Dec 2002):
I regret to say that inspite of all the efforts, we have managed a steady
donation of only Rs 5500 for one year so far as against the monthly
requirement of Rs 11,000. The balance of money for the medicines has been met
either from my income or from well wishers. Unfortunately even the donation
of Rs 5500, which was available so far, will come to an end from January
2003. All the funds were channeled through Kovai Heart Foundation, a
registered Trust of Dr S Balasundaram, the Senior Thoracic Surgeon at Kovai
Medical Centre and Hospital at Coimbatore. Incidentally, I do help little bit
to collect funds for heart operation of poor children through this Foundation
and Dr Balasundaram waives all his charges for such operations.
Come January 2003, Balamurugan will be in deep trouble, as even the
donation that was forthcoming will stop. I have arranged Rs 5000/- for him
from Rotary Club of Coimbatore Metropolis to open a petty shop near his home
and the same will be ready soon. Of course we don't have money to buy items
to keep in his petty shop and I am trying to get him some loan from a local
bank for the same. This will not only help him to earn some money but also
keep him occupied.
We request all donations for Balamurugan to be made in favour of 'Kovai
Heart Foundation A/C Balamurugan" under intimation to me. The Foundation is a
charitable Trust and can give 80(g) Section Income Tax Exemptions under
Indian Income Tax Act. Their web site is available at
http://www.kovaiheart.org
Please help Balamurugan immediately. For this act of kindness, God will
bless you and we thank you immensely for your unforgettable help, which would
help this poor man to live after such a miraculous operation.
With best regards and hoping that some help will come the way of
Balamurugan soon, I remain
Yours sincerely
Colonel (Retd) A Sridharan, VSM
12 Om Shakti Nagar, Kovaipudur
Coimbatore 641042, India
Phone: 91-422-2607877, 2607840, 2216867, 2217625
E-mail:
chitrasri@vsnl.com,
covaiprop@vsnl.net
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This is the appeal by Colonel (Retd) A Sridharan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coimbatore/message/3706
Following is the acknowledgement by Col Sridharan for IndiaCause members.
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Dear Sir,
Vanakkam. Thank you for your prompt and positive response to help
Balamurugan. Kindly thank all members of India Cause.
As desired by you, we will use the money to set up his petty shop with
items that he can sell and earn some money for his living. I am sure this
fine gesture will go a long way to help this poor family. I will postively
pass on your good wishes to his mother and to him.
I also got an acknowledgement from the Chief Minister's Cell for my appeal
to help him get medicines on a permanent basis. I hope something will come
out of this so that the burden of getting medicines every month will not be
there any more.
God is great and He finds ways to help people in distress. India Cause is
one of the ways that He has chosen to help Balamurugan.
With my grateful thanks and with best regards
Sincerely
Col Sridharan
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