The recent increase in Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) cases has raised concern nationwide. Maharashtra reported 225 cases with 12 fatalities (6 confirmed and 6 suspected cases), while Rajasthan reported 29 cases with 2 deaths, and Andhra Pradesh reported 17 cases and 1 death.
What is Guillain-Barré Syndrome?
Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare condition that affects the nerves. It's serious and needs urgent treatment in hospital.
Guillain-Barré syndrome affects one's senses, movement, and breathing and heartbeat. It usually affects the arms and legs before symptoms develop in other parts of the body.
Symptoms usually get worse over the first 2 to 4 weeks.
First, you might feel tingling, numbness, or pins and needles in your feet and hands. This is usually followed by muscle weakness and difficulty moving your joints.
While the usual progression of symptoms is gradual, some patients report having experienced a sudden onset of paralysis; one such case is that of 8-year-old Sarahan Mondal from Kolkata.
His father Saddam Mondal narrates the events that led to the diagnosis & the nightmare that followed.
Every day, my son Sarahan would call around lunchtime to ask if I'd had food. That day was no different. He had requested that I get him a chocolate that day & play cricket with him in the evening. I didn't know that just 24 hours later, my son would be lying in a coma.
That evening, my son kept tripping while playing. A few hours later, he became completely lethargic and complained of a throat ache. We rushed him to the hospital when he started to have trouble breathing. That was the beginning of this catastrophe on our lives," says the teary-eyed father
On 16th January 2025, Sarahan was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
"I'd heard about the illness in the news. There'd been a few deaths. But I never thought this illness would hit so close to home. Just hours after his diagnosis, our Sarahan's body was completely paralysed and he slipped into a coma.
It has been almost a month but my son hasn't woken up yet. We keep trying to talk to him but he doesn't respond. It has been weeks since we last heard his voice. It breaks our hearts to see our once happy, active son barely moving," cries the poor father.
It is not just seeing his son fighting for his life that is unbearable for this poor father. It is also the crushing medical debt that has come with his son's unexpected illness. After emptying his savings and all his possessions, the poor driver has no resources left to fund his son's treatment. "I'm doing everything I can to save my child's life. I've already exhausted my savings and all that I could sell. Now, I have no resources left to continue my son's treatment. With all hopes lost, I've started a fundraiser on ImpactGuru to raise funds for my son's treatment.
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