August 29, 2004

Sometimes worst of circumstances strengthen the resolve of a person at the receiving end of suffering

MEMORIES of that wonderful day are still fresh in my mind. It was Feb 25, 1995 when I received the most beautiful gift from Allah. My eyes welled up when I held my beautiful daughter, Sumi, in my arms, after going through a Caesarean operation. The cherished moment had come after five years, facing the trauma of one miscarriage and one stillbirth. My husband and I were on cloud nine. At that time, who would have imagined that those tears of joy would soon turn into tears of anguish?

I had gestational diabetes during pregnancy. When the baby was born she was not given the required medication necessary for the child of a diabetic mother. After a few days she started having convulsions and her sugar level came down to 10. Then came the most disastrous news which tore our heart to pieces. My daughter, my little angel was now a C.P. child, that is suffering from cerebral palsy. It still hurts a lot while I am writing this article. If only it was possible to reverse the act of negligence that happened that day.

But what’s done can’t be undone. We Muslims are optimistic people and those who strongly believe in Allah never lose hope. I was hoping against all odds but life had started to become an ordeal for us. We did everything that was possible in our capacity and limited resources. We took her to many doctors. Some were sympathetic, some were downright rude to the extent that completely crushed all our hopes to bits. They would say that she would never be able to sit or walk. “There may never be any change in her condition,” some would say. To pass a judgment like that is easy but imagine a mother’s desperate state. I always came out of the clinic with tears in my eyes and determination in my heart.

Years passed by swiftly. There was no change in my daughter’s condition. She could not sit, could not hold her head, couldn’t see straight in the eyes. Other children of her age had started going to school. My Sumi was still at home completely dependent on me. Life was getting tougher and tougher by the day and often that is the time when people around you do nothing to lessen the pain. Parents of mentally challenged children have to face challenges everywhere. In those days I came across many people, who could not react properly when they saw or met a special child. It was quite apparent from their expressions that looking at my child meant they were watching an alien from some other planet.

The pressure exerted by society and other family members also affects the feelings of some parents. They start feeling ashamed of their own child. Most parents keep their special children hidden inside their houses.

I was constantly looking for one remedy or another, which could bring some improvement to my daughter’s health. I also took her to a so-called faith-healer who was famous for treating patients using some kind of herbal medicines. These herbal medicines and syrup did not come cheap. As we could not afford such a huge amount, so after a few sessions the lady informed us at a certain point that now my daughter was completely normal and no further treatment was required. I looked at her in astonishment as I could not see any improvement in her condition. This experience truly shattered me. But Allah is very merciful.

There was a family who were going through the same dilemma. There daughter was a C.P. child but was in a much improved condition because of proper care and exercise. From them I came to know about a rehabilitation centre. I got my daughter admitted there. It was like a day school from 8am to 2:30pm. Here too they had their limitations. They believed in giving only occupational therapy to a child. They were teaching Sumi how to comb her hair, how to brush her teeth etc. My daughter was a spastic child. I told them time and again that there was no relaxation in her measles, which would make her unable to perform all those things. She needed physiotherapy as well; but they turned a deaf ear to all my pleas. The administration there was so rude to parents that they did not hesitate to insult them whenever they got the chance.

Of course there are parents who are negligent towards their child but you can’t blame everyone for that. The parents of a special child are already dispirited souls. Why increase their dilemma by being obnoxious to them. One tends to wonder, do these people really understand Islam where being polite to someone is also considered a Sadqa?

Even in the field of physiotherapy very little has been done in Pakistan. While in our neighbouring country India even a small town like Vishakhapatnam boasts of an excellent hospital for special children.

When my world started getting darker, I decided to take Sumi to Vishakhapatnam. It’s a small but beautiful town near the sea-side in the southern part of India. Here we met Dr Adinarayana Rao, an orthopaedic surgeon. People from all over India as well as from other countries come to his Prema hospital for treatment. When we met him for the first time, we understood why people of Andhra Pradesh worshipped him. He was so down-to-earth and humble that it took us sometime to realize that the gentleman who was talking to us was Dr Rao, a famous surgeon.

In the beginning I was reluctant to ask him anything regarding my daughter’s health because of previous experiences. But he dispelled all my fears by encouraging me and through a positive attitude. He said, “Every child wants to walk, every child wants to talk. Even she will do that; just be prepared to work very hard to achieve your goal.” Yes I know miracles do happen but one has to work hard for them to happen.”

In Vishakhapatnam, I came to know about many exercises and applied them to my daughter. Within a week we could sense a change coming about. Her body was more relaxed and her head control improved a lot. I was quite satisfied with her physical improvement, but her mental condition was still in doubt.

The developed countries were hellbent on finding the cure to lethal diseases like Aids and cancer. I wondered why cerebral palsy was still incurable. I was ready to go to any part of the world wherever its cure was found.

I had spent many sleepless nights brooding over it. One day I met my cousin’s son Aman in Mumbai. It was a miracle of sorts when I saw the four-year-old Aman coming towards me riding a tricycle.

Aman was born with neo-natal hepatitis, which made him become a spastic quadri plegia, affecting all his limbs. The doctors had lost hope about which they clearly told his parents. They’d told them that Aman may not be able to live for more than 8-10 months and even if he did he may turn into a vegetable. But after four years the same boy was playing in front of us on a tricycle, which required coordination of all limbs. Aman is an example of hope, care and dedication on the part of his parents and grandparents. They did not leave any stone unturned to make the child healthy and Allah helped them achieve the goal.

Apart from many different treatments the boy is going through, which has helped him tremendously is G-therapy. It is has brought about great change to his physical and mental condition.

It was Aman’s father who introduced us to Dr Gunvant Oswal. Aman was going through Dr Oswal’s homeopathic and ayuvedic therapy called G-therapy for the past 10 months. It brought tremendous improvement in Aman’s condition. These days he appears more aware to his surroundings. G-therapy has also increased his mental and physical abilities. He is now responding and interacting positively and purposefully.

I wondered what was G-therapy all about? Actually it was exactly the treatment I was waiting for and praying for all these years. This treatment removes the blockage in the brain cells of people with conditions such as cerebral palsy, down syndrome and autism. It was the treatment for which I was ready to go to any part of the world. But Allah is so kind, and I just had to go to Pune, which is a few hours away from Mumbai. We decided to take Sumi to Dr Oswal’s clinic Sanjivani in Pune. After waiting for more than three hours and going through different assessments we met the man himself. After years of research Dr Oswal has developed G-therapy which could successfully treat children with cerebral palsy. As this treatment was new to us, Dr Oswal was kind enough to give us complete information about it. According to him all the treatment involves is the standard sugar-coated tablets used by homeopathic practitioners. He has added a liquid made from herb mixture and body salts to it. There are no heavy metals or poisonous elements involved in it. The ingredients of the medicines are active alkalies that cannot be duplicated. Dr Oswal claims that there is no side-effects of the therapy and improvements are permanent even if the patients stop taking pills. The most important thing about the therapy is that one may also continue it alongside other treatments.

He also showed me cuttings of different newspapers and videos of his patients highlighting his achievements.

Dr Oswal’s therapy is based on case studies of 7,000 patients. For the purpose he has kept a huge video library of these cases handy for anyone who doubted his claim can always view them.

When a patient comes to him for treatment Dr Oswal prepares a complete medical history with video clippings. He has a scoring system based on the activity report of the patient to monitor the progress. He works with patients aged between 18 months and 52 years.

While watching the video clippings of patients I witnessed the case of the recovery of a 15-year-old girl Shilpa. She was suffering from cerebral palsy and had been nearly turned into a vegetable, needing help to walk and feed herself. She had a vacuous look in her eyes and barely recognized anyone. A few months after she began G-therapy a dramatic change came about. The vacuous look was replaced by a warm smile. She could stand and sit without any assistance. Her hand and mouth coordination improved so much that she could even feed herself.

Another wonderful recovery was of Vinita, who had never walked during 26 years of her existence. Just one month of treatment enabled her to walk and even squat.

This therapy has not only proved fruitful to patients in India but has impressed foreigners as well. Ashley Smith, a 17-year-old boy from has been undergoing G-therapy for the past two months. His mother says he has now become much more mentally alert than ever. Some children are fortunate enough to show signs of improvement within 24 hours of taking the first dose. Karien Foster from Sussex is one such lucky child.

In my daughter’s case it has taken a little while to notice any changes. But now by the grace of God the improvement in her is quite apparent, though her mental health seems to be in a better condition than her physical health. But I know she’ll further improve by leaps and bounds. I am quite optimistic about it.

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