New Delhi: She adjusts herself on the white bed where her four and a half year old daughter Pari sleeps cuddled up against a white pillow. The little girl has a white cotton bandage on the back of her head as she sleeps. She occasionally gets up and finds her mother around and sleeps again.
Manu said that her daughter has undergone atleast 20 big and small operations till date for a tumor in the head. "I have seen more of hospitals than home after her birth. When she was born we kept her name 'Chetna' but called her Pari. We never knew that the life of this small girl would be more about scissors and bandages than toys and friends. She has undergone almost 20 operations for a tumor and related complications and still I dont know if she would be fine," said Manu.
Manu's husband works as a tailor in Mukherjee Nagar. The family realised that there is some problem with their daughter when she had difficulty in sleeping on one side of her head. Their worst fears came true when the doctors told them about the tumor.
She was operated upon when she was just 7-month-old. Since then Pari had been more at hospitals than her home. Her mother said that shortest she stayed in a hospital was 15 days and the maximum was three and a half months. Pari is presently admitted in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
"I also have a younger daughter too, she is barely two and a half, though I leave her with my in-laws in Wazirabad but my heart sinks when she cries for me. I still rememebr we celebartd her first birthday in the hospital itself since her elder sister Pari was hospitalised," Manu added.
Manu's husband just earns enough to feed the family, however, their daughter's illness had also affected the family financially.
"I wont give up on my daughter, She is my Pari. I am sure the angles would protect her and one day she will be fine," Manu added as she bends down to kiss Pari who was playing with her bandage on her head.