Football is often referred to as “the beautiful game”. However, for 29-year-old A. Ashwini and her husband, H. Anand, it has also helped fund Ashwini’s surgery after local residents in the Nilgiris district, hearing of her financial plight, came together and organised a football tournament to raise funds for her treatment recently.
Ms. Ashwini and her husband, have been running from pillar to post trying to raise funds for her treatment after she was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease. Suffering from kidney disease for the last eight years, her husband, H. Anand, from Kadakodu village in Kannerimukku, Kotagiri, said the family had used up all their funds on dialysis treatments and other medical expenses for Ashwini.
“My wife has been undergoing treatment for the last eight years, and we have spent many lakhs of rupees on her treatment,” Mr. Anand told The Hindu. As the family could not afford the cost to begin the process of transplantation, Mr. Anand and his family began reaching out to local communities for help.
With the help of a youth forum, local residents came together to organise a football tournament in Kambatty village near Kotagiri, where Ms. Ashwini hails from. Football teams from across the Nilgiris participated in the tournament, and helped raise ₹4 lakh for her treatment.
Mr. Anand said he was extremely touched that so many people had turned up to support his wife’s battle. “She has also been diagnosed recently with a tumor in her brain, and every rupee that we get is of tremendous help to us,” he said. Local village heads and residents turned up in large numbers for the football tournament, which was eventually won by a football team from Kattabettu.
Though he is extremely thankful for the assistance he and his wife have received, Mr. Anand said the medical expenses for the family continue to keep mounting, with the surgery set to cost Rs. 6 lakhs. “I am now in the process of seeing if I can donate one of my kidneys,” said Mr. Anand, who has reached out to other village heads from the Badaga community for financial assistance.
“There are many people like my wife who are suffering from kidney disease in the Nilgiris. I hope that my wife, and people like her who are suffering from the same disease can get the assistance they require. Till then, we have to depend on our community to help save my wife’s life,” said Mr. Anand.
