Your Stories… Our Stories

Last month, we sent out a communication inviting entries/contributions that we would feature in TS TiMES. We received an overwhelming response and we thank you all for it. Here are the first two stories for August. Keep sending us your entries at Aniruddha.Basu@LTTS.com and Sheetal.Ishwalkar@LTTS.com

Caring for a Butterfly with a broken wing…

Pankaj Kumar Sharma, India

I met my wife way back in 2009, we courted for about two years and got married in 2011. What seemed like a ‘happily ever after’ then, was not to be. As it mostly happens, we got a lot of questions from relatives on when we were planning for a family. We dodged that bullet for five years but one fine day when I was preparing to move out of the country to take up a new job, my wife announced that she was expecting our first child! I was on cloud nine – so much so that I was ready to refuse the new job and stay back in India. But my wife convinced me otherwise.

The end of gestation period coincided with my holiday and lo and behold, our little Princess was born! I felt ineffable joy on seeing both a healthy baby and a happy mother! I thought we finally found our ‘happily ever after’.

But again, it was not to be for long. Our baby turned 9 months and all her behavior was normal, except that she had not uttered a single word yet. We didn’t worry, as some children do take some time with speech development. Then one day she got fever and fits, but recovered in a few days. With passing time, almost all of our child’s cognitive skills developed well, but words were missing. On her 2nd birthday celebration our child felt uneasy and we consulted our pediatrician who said it was all normal. She had fever again and we took medical help but to no avail. She had another seizure and we rushed her back to the ICU. After seven days, we were told that our daughter may have Autism. We knew it is a developmental disorder, but couldn’t believe our child may have been Autistic. After thorough assessment, doctors confirmed that our child did have Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Our little girl had become restless - she was afraid of sound, light, and other things. We were uncertain what triggered her meltdown and the endless crying for hours. As parents, this impacted both our lives. My wife decided to take a sabbatical from work for six months - here, I want to thank the LTTS family for the sabbatical and support as it gave her the time to spend with our child. She researched on Autism, joined various groups and found the right set of therapies and diet for our child.

Our child’s health has improved in the past one year, but it is a long road ahead and the COVID-19 situation has also stopped all her activities. As the saying goes, “you learn something new every day”.

For years now we have been waiting to hear the magical words ‘Mumma’ and ‘Papa’, and are sure one day our efforts will bear fruit. I believe ‘special children’ like my little angel are colorful butterflies with broken wings and people like us are entrusted with the responsibility, perseverance and patience to empower them so that these children too can fly high like others and achieve their dreams.