A Heart Rendering Story

December 26th, 2004, was a day of horror and nightmare for many families residing on the seashores of Tamil Nadu. People lost their properties, belongings and dear ones. This is the story of one such family from Kulachal village, Nagapattinam district.

As a fisherman by occupation, my house was on the beach of Kulachal Village, Nagapattinam District. The Almighty was very kind to bless me with an ever-smiling wife and three beautiful children, two girls and one boy – 6, 5 and 4 years of age. It was a very content and happy family which I was proud of.

December 26th, 2004 is a day which I will never forget in my life; it was and will be the worst day of my whole life. Nobody should face a tragedy which I experienced. Early that morning I have gone for a walk along the beach. It was the usual pleasant sound of waves and a gentle breeze wafting over the sea water. All of a sudden the sea water seemed to be swelling and encroaching on to the land. My thoughts ran to my family. As fast as my legs could carry me I reached my house, but all in vain. There was no house, wife or children. I ran helter-skelter like a madman in search of my family. Out of the blue, I saw my wife. With the hope that my wife and children are safe, I ran to her. Fate was cruel, my wife told me, in spite of all her efforts to save the children, she was unable to. They were lost in the swelling sea waters. Later I was informed that some of the people saved were admitted to a nearby hospital. Praying hard that I should find our children, both I and my wife went in search of them to the hospital. Two of my beautiful children were lying still among many others. They were gone. The third child was missing. It was an agony which no parent should undergo. Late that night the third child body was found floating in the water. My wife who has never shed a tear was grief-stricken but like a mad lady, she was repeatedly saying that my child will come back to me. The truth was that I was not going to get my children back.

A small ray of hope appeared when I was told about test tube baby conception. Since we had three children my wife underwent family planning operation. We consulted the local infertility specialist. In spite of her sincere effort, we did not succeed. Later I was referred to GG Hospital. We came for treatment at G G Hospital on 18/5/2005. Hearing our pathetic story Dr. Kamala Selvaraj was literally in tears and assured us that we can have a child.

As a policy of the hospital, ART treatment given to tsunami victims is entirely free of cost, with a hope to enlighten their lives. Treatment was started immediately. My wife conceived in the first cycle of ART procedure. We were blessed with a girl child on 29/6/2006. We were overwhelmed with joy; we were seeing our three children in this beautiful child. I was seeing God in Dr. Kamala Selvaraj; she helped us to regain a happy content family once again. I and my wife are ever grateful and indebted to her. I wish and pray that God should bless her and her family and give her a long and healthy life so that she can help unfortunate people like us.