July 25, 2010
Dear Ms. Tina Ambani,
Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital
When the door closes, a window opens. In our case, this little window is your hospital. This window brought in a lot of sunshine and fresh air and forced the doors of life to open again.
My four year old son was diagnosed with burkitts lymphoma last year. His treatment is complete and with God's grace is keeping good health. I strongly believe that God's blessings were manifested in the form of the doctors that treated and healed him. My family and I are grateful and thankful to these messengers of God and I pray that they be bestowed with a lot of wisdom and knowledge in their pursuit to heal and protect every life.
I have no medical qualifications and as a result have no locus-standi to comment on the technical expertise , but as a beneficiary I would like to mention that you have an excellent team of doctors. However in my view, their excellence is not only on account of their superior technical skill sets but also because they are good human beings.
I would like to thank every doctor that was consulted for my son and I do believe that their contribution was invaluable. However there are few to whom we are extremely grateful and feel indebted to for life.
Dr. Shantanu Sen: Apart from being a doctor, he is my four year old son's hero. This cult status was not a natural progression but an acquired one (thanks to Dr.Sen's relentless efforts on my 'so very difficult to please' son). This bond or hero worship has played a major role in getting my son to abide by / abstain from various "do's and don'ts" related to chemotherapy. He is the first pediatric I have met who believes in establishing a relationship directly with the child rather than communicating through the parents.
For the rest of the family, he was a great source of strength. His soft demeanor, empathetic approach, clear and honest communication, high levels of patience to answer the same question several times over, open to discussion, no egos, professional approach … They all have played a major role in gaining our trust.
During the treatment, we experienced several "highs" and several "lows". During every low moment, we found him standing by us and helping us fight the battle. Similarly, every time when things sprung in our favor he was as happy as anyone else in the family.
Thank you, Dr. Sen for being what you are .
Dr. Vinay and Preetha Joshi: They are my son's guardian angels. I have come to believe that when a child gets admitted in an Intensive Care Unit, the guardianship status gets automatically transferred from the parents to the intensivist. We have been extremely fortunate to have them as our son's guardian during his most precarious three weeks of his life.
In hindsight, I figured that during all our discussions with them, the style of conversation was more of a 'parent to parent' talk rather than a 'doctor to parent' update. Their inputs on child psychology proved to be an excellent tool especially when we, the parents, were in a state of shock and were absolutely clueless about dealing with the situation.
Their dedication and commitment was demonstrated in their decision to complete the extubation procedure on a holiday (It was a Sunday and Dr. Preetha's birthday!). There was no emergency and the only reason they did it was to cause least discomfort to the patient and less agony for the family. I do not think any other hospital in the world would have entertained this.
Thank you Joshis, for being there for us.
We would specially like to thank Dr. Amrish Vaidya, Dr. Ketan Parikh, Dr. Samir Shah , Dr. Mohan and Dr. Prasanth for all their efforts and inputs.
We are also grateful to all the sisters who nursed my son. They not only performed their duties diligently but also addressed the emotional requirements of the patient and the family. They entertained my son , played with him , cried with us, shared our moments of joy … in short, they became our family . We would specially like to thank Aparna, Sheetal, Rosemary, Smita, Shaila, Sharmila, Blessy, Neelam and Neelima.
The support staff and the administrative officers were compassionate and kind too. We thank them for their humane gestures.
Last but not the least , we appreciate your vision of making available world class healthcare services in India. You have carried forward the legacy of the Late Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani of thinking big. Your family has played an important role in augmenting the wealth of this nation and now you are engaged in improvising it's health. We pray to God to assist you in all your future endeavors.
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