Life has been a constant battle for Payel Bhattacharya, a patient of Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL), a rare autosomal genetic condition that predisposes individuals to benign and malignant tumours.
The 34-year-old, who has already undergone nine surgeries, is still suffering as the tumors continue to spread in her body. Bhattacharya, who has three tumors in her brain and several others in her pancreas, has now turned partially blind as the tumours have spread over her eyes.
VHL, being a rare disease, is found in one among 36,000 people. Due to the scarcity of such cases, even the government does not have any statistical records.
According to health experts, tumours in VHL become cancerous in its later stages and spread to other body parts through lymphs or blood. With the tumours in her body mushrooming and affecting many of her vital organs, Bhattacharya has been undergoing treatment by several organ specialists, whose expenses run into thousands of rupees every month.
‘As the disease is genetical, the tumours can’t be stopped from mushrooming. Only surgeries can help remove the tumours,’ radiologist Harsh Mahajan, who has done the radiology imaging of Bhattacharya’s tumours, said. He also said that in such situations, a patient cannot be cured.
‘However, her condition can be kept under control and the tumours can be stopped from growing bigger through continuous medication’, he added.
Bhattacharya, who lives with her widowed mother at Hauz Rani, in south Delhi, is being supported by her Mumbai-based brother. But her brother’s earnings are becoming insufficient for her treatment, with her condition deteriorating day-by-day.
The 34-year-old, who has already undergone nine surgeries, is still suffering as the tumors continue to spread in her body. Bhattacharya, who has three tumors in her brain and several others in her pancreas, has now turned partially blind as the tumours have spread over her eyes.
VHL, being a rare disease, is found in one among 36,000 people. Due to the scarcity of such cases, even the government does not have any statistical records.
According to health experts, tumours in VHL become cancerous in its later stages and spread to other body parts through lymphs or blood. With the tumours in her body mushrooming and affecting many of her vital organs, Bhattacharya has been undergoing treatment by several organ specialists, whose expenses run into thousands of rupees every month.
‘As the disease is genetical, the tumours can’t be stopped from mushrooming. Only surgeries can help remove the tumours,’ radiologist Harsh Mahajan, who has done the radiology imaging of Bhattacharya’s tumours, said. He also said that in such situations, a patient cannot be cured.
‘However, her condition can be kept under control and the tumours can be stopped from growing bigger through continuous medication’, he added.
Bhattacharya, who lives with her widowed mother at Hauz Rani, in south Delhi, is being supported by her Mumbai-based brother. But her brother’s earnings are becoming insufficient for her treatment, with her condition deteriorating day-by-day.