Grateful heart: Srelorsheni never expected to receive so much kindness from strangers before her plight was highlighted in The Star.
KLANG: An end-stage kidney patient never expected so many people to come forward when she needed help to pay for a medical procedure.Srelorsheni Nagaseigara, 31, who had sought help to raise funds to pay for a fistula, said she was overwhelmed with the support and love she received from total strangers.
Fistula is an attachment to an artery to facilitate dialysis.
“I did not know there were so many kind and generous people out there. I have never experienced so much kindness from total strangers when even some family members had turned against me,’’ she added.
The moment Srelorsheni’s plight was highlighted in The Star, people of all races had reached out to charitable organisation Community Development and Integration Initiative (CDII) to seek out her banking details.
The biggest donor was a Chinese man who contributed RM5,000 and Srelorsheni had received RM65,000 in total.
A bumiputra company paid the hospital directly for the surgery whilst many Malays, Chinese and Indians made contributions ranging from RM50 to RM3,000.
Many of those who contributed had also sent her words of encouragement and told her that their prayers and thoughts were with her.
“That is the biggest amount of money I have ever had in my life and it was also timely. I am now required to pay for my dialysis, rental, transportation and food on my own,’’ she said.
According to Srelorsheni, the National Kidney Foundation had given her one-year free dialysis with the subsequent sessions to be borne by the Social Security Organisation (Sosco).
However, she said her Socso application did not go through as she only had 13 months of contribution as opposed to the required minimum of 20 months.
“I was told I can appeal but that would take time, so I am paying RM1,080 monthly for 12 sessions,’’ she added.
Srelorsheni also had to move out of her rented apartment as her landlord had politely told her that he was uneasy having her there as he did not want anything happening to her in his premises.
“So, the money that came in also helped me get a new place. If I did not have that money, I would have been stranded,’’ said Srelorsheni, who lives on her own.
She had blacked out and crashed into the ceramic bathroom sink last month and had lain there bleeding before coming around.
Srelorsheni said she had lost a lot of weight and her stomach was bloated due to issues with her heart and lungs as a result of prolonged dialysis through the neck.
“I was told that my failing heart will be able to recover a little when I start dialysis through the fistula,’’ she added.
However, Srelorsheni still has to wait for about two months before using the fistula as she must exercise to make the vein involved a little bigger for dialysis.To make matters worse, a charitable society which was giving her RM800 a month for rental and food had also stopped the allowance as it was the organisation’s policy to only help those who were not receiving help from other sources.
Srelorsheni, who has been in and out of hospital, as well as receiving psychiatric treatment from Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) in Klang for depression, hopes that Socso would look into her plight.
“I will need dialysis throughout my lifetime and I don’t know when the money I received will run out as I am using it to pay for rent, transportation, dialysis and food,” she said.
Those who want to reach out to Srelorsheni can send an email to: cdii.community@gmail.com.
Heartwarming tales such as this are promoted and encouraged by the “Maaf Zahir Batin Hari Hari” campaign (#MZB365), which was launched on April 6.
The campaign stands strong with support from major media organisations and civil society organisations.
