Gopal is 3 years old and hails from Shegaon in Maharashtra. He was suffering from BCT-All from early 2020 and was treated at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.
Gopal Solanki
Age : 3 years
Place : Shegaon, Maharashtra (316 miles from Mumbai)
Gopal is a playful and cheerful child. He loves to play with toys, with other kids, and watch cartoons. His family and he started living at the Access Life center in September, 2020.
Fighting Cancer and COVID
Gopal first developed a fever. On being taken to the doctor, he was prescribed some medicines and blood tests. Because the report showed low platelet count, The treatment procedure was changed to include injection and saline. However, Gopal’s body temperature kept fluctuating and the family changed doctors. After all the tests were done, Gopal was put on a treatment for malaria. However, his condition did not improve and the blood culture came out negative for malaria. The family then moved Gopal to yet another hospital in Akola, where he was diagnosed to have severe malaria. The doctors increased the dosage of medicines and injections.
There was a temporary remission in fever after which it was back again. So, the doctors further increased the medicine dosage. This process repeated for several weeks before the family changed doctors yet again. This doctor suggested a BMT test, which declared that Gopal had BCT-All cancer. The doctor asked the family to immediately go to Tata hospital in Mumbai and told them to be hopeful that the child will recover from this disease. Following the doctor’s advice, the family travelled to Mumbai.
In November 2020, Gopal tested positive for COVID-19. Gopal had to treated at the hospital where he wanted both his parents to stay with him. However, the hospital allowed only one parent stay and this was a challenging time for him. The child battled the disease for a month after which he was finally declared COVID negative in December.
Challenges
The family faced a lot of challenges mentally, emotionally, and physically trying to find out what exactly was the problem was and why fever was not alleviating. The parents had no clue about childhood cancer and the news came as a major shock. The family faces financial issues and had to take loans from friends and relatives for the treatment. The family also had problems finding shelter in Mumbai, since they were traveling with two women who were uncomfortable staying in the hospital or out on the streets.