By Humans of Bombay:
Editor’s note: On May 16, Facebook page Humans of Bombay shared the story of Nagendra, a young man living in Mumbai, who fell in an open pothole 12 years ago, and suffered lifelong consequences because of that. The page started a crowdfunding campaign on Ketto for Nagendra’s surgeries and in just a day, people across the world donated over Rs. 11 lakh! This is his story, as told by Humans of Bombay.
Nagendra Singh Tomar is a 28-year-old young man struggling to stay alive. In 1998, the young man came to the big city (Mumbai) from his village, hoping to make a mark for himself by building a strong, sustainable career. When he was placed as a labour manager in 2004 with a well-known construction company, he thought his life was set.
Eight months into his job, he one day felt dizzy and collapsed into a 14-foot concrete pothole. He was unconscious for 10 whole minutes after which he woke up, drank some water, put on some ointment and carried on with his work. He not once thought of visiting the hospital and India’s lack of safety procedures allowed the construction company owners to not follow up on his case.
However, in 2011, Nagendra began to suffer from severe nosebleeds. He visited a local hospital where he went through dozens of tests and one surgery over a period of 10 months only to be told that his brain had suffered severe damage as a result of his fall 7 years ago. His nerves had begun to knot up and the doctor informed Nagendra that his case was now beyond his control.
The doctor, Nagendra states, was crying as he told him that any more surgeries may result in Nagendra losing his life, whereas a lack of surgeries would definitely make him lose his life. Nagendra pleaded, however, the doctor turned him away.
By 2012, Nagendra then went to another hospital, where he had five surgeries. A few months later, Nagendra began to notice that his skin was rotting away and his vision was beginning to blur. A few weeks later, he could no longer see from his left eye and his scalp began to form dents since it was literally corroding away.
Nagendra has since been unable to visit a doctor due to lack of funds. In 2011, he lost his job at the construction company as a result of his health problems. He has no family to support him and the young man’s life is at risk if he does not receive the help he so urgently needs. He has spent all his savings and sold all his property and now has no income or savings to invest towards saving his life.
In 2011, over a period of just a few months, a long forgotten accident came to haunt Nagendra with a force he can no longer reckon with.
