A Gift of Life

Ritesh, the eldest in a family of three children, had a serious defect in his heart which troubled his breathing. Many heart specialists in India had examined him but could not cure him.

Delhi's Palam Airport saw an unusual reunion on Tuesday, February 3, as the arrival of an Air India flight from Bombay was announced. A small group of men and women, their faces flushed with expectancy, stood silently watching the plane land.

The plane's most important passenger was three-year old Ritesh Arora, popularly known as the "pink baby." As soon as Ritesh carried by his father emerged from the customs he was showered with hugs and kisses from loving relatives. The happiness and excitement proved too much for his mother who burst into tears as she lifted her baby in her arms. A crowd of reporters gathered to witness the touching reunion and the next day the story was splashed on the front page of all the morning dailies.

Relatives and friends crammed into the Arora's small house where little Ritesh was the centre of attention. They had reason to rejoice. Ritesh, the eldest in a family of three children, had a serious defect in his heart which troubled his breathing. Many heart specialists in India had examined him but could not cure him. When father and son left for the U.S. eight months ago, many of the family were not sure that they would ever see the little boy again. Heart specialists in India had lost hope. Due to the major circulation defect in his heart Ritesh was not given more than a few months to live. Indian doctors offered one remote chance-a major operation in the USA just might save the boy.

Mr. Arora immediately sent off a letter to his sister and her husband informing them of the urgency of the case. After consulting doctors there, they wrote back telling Mr. Arora to bring Ritesh to America. Prospects suddenly looked brighter. But on arriving there Mr. Arora learned that even amongst U.S. doctors there were differences of opinion. Some said that an operation was useless since the boy's lungs were severely damaged from birth. Others considered it a high-risk operation but said that without it Ritesh would not live longer than four months.

The decision was made. The operation was to be performed and Dr. McGoon of the famous Mayo Clinic in Minnesota had agreed to perform it, though he placed the chances of survival at 50 per cent.

Then arose the major problem of finance. Medical expenses amounted to almost $ 10,000 (Rs. 85,000) and Mr. Arora, an English teacher at the Government Boys' Higher Secondary School in Shahdara, did not have that kind of money. Having anticipated this problem earlier, Mr. Arora had suggested that Ritesh be adopted by his sister and her husband which would entitle him to have the operation free of charge in the U.S. 

However, once he got there he learned that the proceedings for the operation would take almost a year. Time was running out. The operation had to be performed immediately. Just when he seemed at a total loss, a brilliant suggestion by his brother-in-law saved the situation.

He suggested a letter explaining Ritesh's case-history be sent to the New Jersey Daily News. Within two days the story of the little boy doomed to death for lack of funds was on newspaper's front page. This was immediately taken up by the New York Times and several television channels. Mr. Arora said, "I got so much publicity in the press that I felt more important than President Ford."

The response was astounding-much more than Mr. Arora had dared hope even in his wildest dreams. Within seven days the donations had amounted to $7,000 and by the time he left USA the amount had more than doubled, reaching over $ 15,000. The highest donation was approximately $1,000. Curiously, Mr. Arora never met any of the donors though sometimes he did manage to speak to many of them on the telephone. Touched by the extreme-generosity of the American people he said, "I have no words to express what the American people did for my child. Ritesh is breathing today only because of their generosity."

As soon as the problem of money was solved, speedy arrangements for the five- hour open heart operation were made by Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The operation which was performed on January 20, was the first of a two-stage procedure to repair the child's heart. A very tense but confident Mr. Arora waited for the final verdict. He was confident that the operation would be successful, for by a strange coincidence everything regarding the operation had happened on a Tuesday: the day of their arrival in America, the tests and the operation itself all fell on a Tuesday, a day on which Mr. Arora always fasts because of his staunch belief in the diety, Hanuman. Little Ritesh too had helped give him confidence. One night a few days before the operation he woke his father up in the middle of, the night and said, "Daddy don't worry. I know I have to be cut up from here to here (pointing to his heart) but I am going to be alright.' He had in fact gone into the operation theatre without seeming too scared, and had been very friendly with all the doctors and nurses.

But naturally, Mr. Arora did have pangs of acute apprehension. None of the doctors had seemed a hundred per cent sure of success. The operation was a very crucial one. It involved inserting a partition within the heart chamber to regulate the flow of unoxygenated blood to the lungs and oxygenated blood to the body. To prevent excess blood from flowing into the lungs, the pulmonary artery was constricted with a band.

Right from the time Mr. Arora and Ritesh left for Minnesota they were accompanied by reporters and television crews. The journey there, the preparation for the operation, and the final success of the operation were all shown on television and reports appeared in all the newspapers. Mr. Arora said, "We were surrounded by wel1 wishers and blessings right up to the time we left America."

It is barely a month since the operation but already Ritesh is showing definite signs of improvement. His breathing is more regular and the blueness around his lip and nails has completely disappeared. But he is still too weak on his feet to be allowed to stand. When Mr. Arora had asked a doctor in America whether it would be just a matter of months before Ritesh would be walking, the doctor had replied, "It is not a question of months. In a few weeks Ritesh will be running around like normal children.'

However Ritesh will have to undergo the second part of the operation in about five to ten years in which two arteries in his heart will have to be transposed. If that operation too cannot be performed in India, Mr. Arora will take Ritesh to the U.S. again for the operation. He does not anticipate too many difficulties because there is already some money in Ritesh's account in America which has been reserved to pay for the second operation.

But now back in India, Ritesh and his family can look forward to a new life.