On September 21, 2011, Sumit Dilip Wankhede, 22 and Avinash Jadhav 22, were returning at 5 am after working at a construction company in Mira Road.Because it was raining the bike skidded and hit a stationery truck parked in front of Alica Nagar, opposite Whispering Palms Xxclusives.
Their family and friends took them to Sanchaiti Hospital, Akurli Road, who started treatment but at 7.00 am said it was important to shift both to a bigger hospital and referred them to Criticare Hospital, which is in Juhu.
At Criticare, Avinash (the pillion rider) was operated on right away, but Sumit who had a Cerebral Hematoma (blood clot in the brain), was operated upon at 7.00 in the evening. He regained consciousness in three days and passed out again on September 26.
By the time he turned 22 on the 10th of October, he was conscious and lucid, but unable to talk because of a broken jaw. The surgery of the jaw had been put off because of a lung infection.
On the 12th of October, Criticare Hospital said that he was out of danger and it would be better to move him to a place closer to home, with good facilities, like the newly opened DNA Hospital at Lokhandwala Township.
Now Sumit & his elder brother, Pratik (24) made a living for their family, by washing cars. So when the hospital bill (along with medicines) at Criticare came to a whopping Rs. 9 Lakhs, the family's entire life savings was woefully inadequate and they had to borrow a huge amount of money to pay the bills.
At DNA, Sumit starting improving and began to communicate through eye movements and gestures. He was very fond of Cricket and on the 23rd of October, when Sumit's friends took him around the hospital in a wheel chair, he conveyed his desire to watch the India Vs England match and watched it for around 10-15 minutes.
That night he stayed up till 3.30 am with his brother and another patient in the ICU who was due to be discharged the next morning. At around 3.30am Sumit drifted to sleep and his elder brother, Pratik, went to the next room to lie down. At 5.30 am, the hospital staff woke up Pratik saying that Sumit was not doing very well and needed to be put on a ventilator.
Sumit passed away around mid-day on Dhanteras (Oct 24, 2011).
His elder brother Pratik, 24, collapsed when he heard the news and his mother fainted. The youngest son of the family Atul, 15 yrs, started hyperventilating and had to be given medical aid.
An autopsy was done on Sumit at 4 p.m. and his body was consigned to flames at 10 p.m. on Dhanteras.
The shocked and broke family were unable to pay the DNA Hospital bill, which was more than Rs. 1 Lakh. The hospital was kind enough to release Sumit’s body without asking the family to settle the bill immediately.
The Wankhede family, while still reeling from their young son’s death is in debt to the tune of around Rs. 8 Lakh.
Neighbourhood Times will be donating 5% of advertising revenue generated from our Children’s Day special issue dated November 10, 2011 to The Wankhede Family.
We, at Neighbourhood Times, urge each reader to look deep within our hearts for compassion and contribute generously in raising funds the late Sumit Wankhede’s Family.
We cannot bring their son back, but as a community we can help them to get rid of their huge debt. Names & Pictures of donors who contribute Rs. 5,000/- and above will be published in Neighbourhood Times.
Electronic Money transfers can be done directly to:
Mr. Pratik Dilip Wankhede,
A/C No: 65083742045
IFSC : STBP0001014
Bank : State Bank of Patiala
Branch : Lokhandwala Kandivli East, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 400101.
Sumit’s elder brother Pratik can be contacted on +91-9664903378 / +91-8108921267
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