Parteek, a bright 14 year old boy lives in a small town called Dubaldhan in Haryana. He is the only son of  Surjeet and Meenu who are farmers by profession and their annual income is barely two lakhs. The secure and happy world of this modest family came crashing down when their son was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called T–lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL). 

Their nightmare started with Parteek developing a severe cough which refused to go away despite medicines being prescribed. Since no improvement was in sight their doctor suggested that they travel to the nearest city, Hisar to get a CT scan. Sure enough the scan showed many knots which needed investigation. The very next day, the harrowed and extremely worried parents packed their bags and came to Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, Delhi and Parteek’s treatment started immediately. 

From August 2019 to March 2020, Parteek had to undergo 17 painful rounds of chemotherapy. This surely had to have several adverse side effects. There were times when his  physical state turned critical . He could not stop vomiting, had consistent fever and diarrhoea wreaked havoc with his frail body. Battling this nightmare, he was reduced to a bag of bones as his  weight dropped  down to 32 kgs. 

His parents were extremely worried and concerned watching him go through this nightmare. For a parent nothing can be worse than seeing your own child  undergoing so  much pain and misery. However, Parteek never once complained and kept his spirits up during the ups and downs. His mother tells us how  well disciplined and punctual he was in following the doctor’s recommendations and even accompanied her when she sat for her prayers. For instance, he would have his medicine sharp at 9:00 am without fail, and never at 9:02 am, since the doctor had prescribed it. 

Today, Parteek is doing much better than before. He has moved back to his town after completing his treatment in Delhi. He loves studying and recently he appeared for his 8th standard exams in Small Wonders School, Hisar. Since he was in still in recovery when the exams started, he tried covering up for the time lost by appearing for exams of two varied subjects in one day. Such is the courage and dedication of a 14 year old.