Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without thanking her

There lived a princess in the heart of the city of Calcutta in the eastern part of India. She had all the things in life – a loving father, 3 loving sisters, nephews, nieces, brothers, a big house, lot of books and the money to buy more and most of all the love of everyone around – everything that would make someone classically happy.

Then one day as she was getting ready to join her lovely sisters for a movie, she felt numbness on her legs. She fell down. Things followed rapidly there after. After several top doctors in the city were consulted, investigations procuring humongous bills were taken care of and after never ending sleepless nights, the top neurologists came to conclude that she was suffering from a rare type of neurological disease - Moyamoya disease(MMD).

In a matter of one year, she started to feel enormously weak and numb. She succumbed at home several times and had to be hospitalized few times. She was ventilated and weaned off after stormy periods. On all occasions, she was hassled, humiliated and treated like a vegetable. Now, she rests in an ICU facilitated bed at home, cared by her father, sisters and full time expensive and expert nurses. The room has suction tube, syringe pumps, ryle’s tube mechanics, all that a proper ICU must have.

A lot could be said about the medical mal treatment, mis diagnosis, lack of medical expertise and callous practices. We all know how it goes. Maligning is easy. Today however, I want to thank her who is living it all numb, unaware, yet not dead. Her fleeting smile (that’s once in a blue moon on seeing her father) is the reason her father is still fighting it along with her. He has stents to take care of his clogged arteries, he has a lot many instructions to abide by and he is not left with much money now. Still, he never does miss his dose of medicine so that he might not miss his daughter’s dose. He spends nearly 50K per month for her beautiful daughter. He is failing now with aches and pains catching up every now. But, he should never give up on the hope. That’s what has made both father and daughter so much more alive than many of us and so painfully beautiful.


Moyamoya disease was first identified in Japan. It occurs most frequently in patients from Japan and Korea. Moyamoya disease is a rare vascular disorder characterized by the progressive narrowing of the blood vessels in the circle of Willis (the ring of arteries at the base of the brain). The result is irreversible blockage of the carotid arteries to the brain as they enter into the skull. Moyamoya disease primarily affects children, but may also occur in adults ages 20 to 40.