Born Different but Standing Strong An Eight Year Old Boy’s Quiet Courage in the Face of Daily Challenges
Each side of Kaleem’s hand weighs up to 8 kg and is 33 cm long from the wrist to the end of the middle finger. Her rare disease gives doctors a headache when they have not found a solution.
With swollen hands, 8-year-old Kaleem in India cannot do simple things such as tying shoelaces. He also has trouble wearing clothes and is often bullied and shunned by everyone around him. “I don’t go to school because the teacher says other children are afraid of my hands. Many of them even use this excuse to bully me. They say ‘hit the big hand guy’. Some of them beat me and often followed me to make fun of me,” he said.
Kaleem wanted to change so much that she said, “I wish the surgeons would operate on these hands. Even if they operate without injecting medication first, I’m fine. A small operation is fine.”
Kaleem’s parents only earn about $25 a month. The boy’s mother, Haleema, 27, said she knew he had an abnormality from birth but couldn’t do anything about it. When Kaleem was born, her hands were twice as big as normal babies. The hands are big and the fingers are very long and they are growing constantly.
The boy’s father, Shamim, 45, is a manual laborer, always worried that his son would not be able to live independently and blamed him for not earning enough money to take care of him. “You can use two fingers to hold things like a glass of water. We wanted to take our child to the hospital but we couldn’t afford it, once it was too miserable, my wife had to beg,” the man shared.
He and his wife took their son to a local doctor for an assessment of his condition, but hopes that his son would be cured were dashed.
Dr Ratan, director of the hospital where Kaleem’s family lives, said: “To my knowledge, this is an extremely rare disease. I have never seen a case of such a large hand in a medical journal or the Internet. Until there is proper genetic analysis, we cannot say anything exactly what causes this condition.”
He said that in addition to unknown growths, Kaleem is in good health with normal heart and lung function. But his hands continue to grow, which can put increased pressure on the cardiovascular system, shortening his life span.
Dr. Krishan Chugh, head of paediatrics at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon, near Delhi (India), was also confused after seeing photos and videos of the boy. He believes that Kaleem may have lymphoma syndrome or excess tissue tumor — both diseases are treatable.
“This disease seems very rare, without proper testing and in-depth tests I can’t be 100% sure what it is,” he said.
Kaleem’s parents flashed hope that the boy’s condition could be improved. They are trying to raise money for their children. “We have tried to go to several places but to no avail. However, I feel that it is a way to bring resources to help my child have a normal life,” they said.
