• Six hospitals make faulty diagnosis of Ramamurthy’s eye disease — mistakes Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma for incurable tumour.
• With little money to remove Ramamurthy’s eye, the helpless parents wait to see their only child breathe his last.
• A free medical camp at Basaveshwaranagar breathes new life into the parents — not just that the tumour could be removed, but the boy could see as well.
• After three months of suffering and endless hospital visits, the boy is promised cure and that with a few locally available drugs.
• Ramamurthy’s treatment is on. A philanthropist comes forward to sponsor the complete treatment expenses — around Rs 3 lakh.
From The Times of India; dtd 16 Feb 2005; Bangalore editionBangalore: Seeking a second opinion on matters of health is nothing new. But in the case of three-year-old Ramamurthy, it was the seventh round of opinion that saved his eye.
Six hospitals, including three premier hospitals for ophthalmology and oncology, had made faulty diagnosis of a rare kind of eye cancer — Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma or EB — suggesting the only way to save the little boy was removing his eye. But after three months of suffering and endless hospital visits, he is finally promised cure, and that with a few locally available drugs.
Ramamurthy, the only child of a gardener from Jalahalli, developed some irritation in his right eye last December. Before his illiterate parents could realise what had happened, the boy’s eye ball had swollen up into the size of a cricket ball with the cornea grossly popping out. Within a fortnight, he turned blind.
Doctors across six hospitals saw a malignant tumour in the eye and recommended removing Ramamurthy’s eye to save his life. But after almost a month of endless hospital visits, his helpless parents decided to return home. “If Ramu had to be saved, his eye had to be removed, but mobilising funds to remove his eye was an impossible task. It was as if we were waiting to see our only child breathe his last,’’ Ramamurthy’s father recalled.
In fact, it was a free surgical and medical camp organised by the Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital at Basaveshwaranagar that breathed new life into Ramamurthy and his parents. At the camp, doctors declared that the tumour could be removed and the boy will regain his sight.
Diagnosing it as EB, a type of cancer that occurs in less than three per cent of cancer cases among children, doctors established that the tumour would be highly responsive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy with excellent prognosis rate.
Ramamurthy’s treatment is on. Philanthropist Mohan Lal Ranka has offered to sponsor the expenses which amount to about Rs 3 lakh. “Right diagnosis of a rare disease may still be a challenge, but there is dire need for doctors to work up cases. The boy would have lost his eye for nothing. Worse, the boy would have lost his life as the parents helplessly let the tumour grow without treatment,” said hospital CEO Dr Kishore Murthy.
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