By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A few years back he was leading a contended life with his wife and five sons and successfully running his business. Today the man is just a shadow of his former self. He had been forced to sell his business unit and is reduced to a life of poverty.
But the worst part is that he is now waiting for three of his sons to die.
This is the bitter story of a shoe maker from Shillong – Abdul Rahim.
His three sons have been diagnosed with Thalassemia – a terminal illness – and he now wants to approach the court to seek mercy deaths for his three terminally ill sons and himself.
Rahim’s contended life took a turn for the worse in 1997 when his third son – Sadik Ahmed – was diagnosed with Thalassemia, a form of inherited autosomal recessive blood disorder that is caused by the weakening and destruction of red blood cells in the body.
Four years later, Rahim’s fourth child and Sadik’s younger brother – Suheil Ahmed – now 14 years – was diagnosed likewise. As if fate had not had enough of him, two years ago his youngest son – nine-year-old Mohamed Samim – was also medically confirmed to be suffering from Thalassemia.
“I have sold everything for the treatment of my three sons including my property in Assam and my shoe manufacturing unit in Shillong. I am now lost since I do not have the money to continue with the expensive treatment as I need around Rs 45,000 every month for the treatment,” Rahim told news persons at a press conference here on Tuesday.
Mentioning that he had to spend Rs 45,000 per month for blood transfusion for his three sons, Rahim went on to explain that at Vellore he was told by doctors that treatment was possible but it would cost approximately Rs 35 lakh per child.
Confessing that he had no means left to arrange for that large sum of money and also unable to live with the thought of seeing his three sons die, the dejected father said that he had no options left except moving the court seeking mercy death for his three sons and himself.
Informing that he has tried homeopathy, ayurveda and even allopathy to treat his sons, Rahim said that all the treatment had failed.
“I had even gone to Vellore for the treatment. But due to the nature of the sickness the only viable option is blood transfusion which provides temporary relief,” he said.
Rahim informed that he had even sought assistance from Assam Thalassemia Society which had supported him for a brief period. “But that has stopped now and even I cannot donate my blood any longer as I have given my blood fifteen times already,” he said tearfully.
A citizen of Meghalaya for the last 35 years, Rahim was running a successful footwear business in Shillong owning a shop and a factory in Mawbah area, until the tragedy struck.
His wife and the five sons, however, are citizens of Assam living in their native place – Doboka town in Nagaon District of Assam.