Confirmed Diagnoses

• Extreme Prematurity (28 weeks 3 days) with Low Birth Weight (1.21 kg) — born twelve weeks too early, with every major organ system incomplete and vulnerable

• Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) — lungs unable to sustain independent breathing; currently on CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) support — a non-invasive form of ventilation that keeps the air sacs open between breaths

• Clinical Sepsis — signs of systemic infection in the blood; being actively monitored and treated with antibiotics

• Neonatal Jaundice (Hyperbilirubinemia) — serum bilirubin of 9.2 mg/dL (normal: below 1.1 mg/dL); elevated bilirubin from red blood cell breakdown causing jaundice; at high levels this can cause brain damage if not treated

• Leucopenia with Lymphocytosis — low white blood cell count with an altered immune cell pattern, indicating the immune system is under significant stress from infection

• Elevated TSH (8.918 uIU/mL) — thyroid function being monitored; slightly above the upper limit, requiring clinical correlation and follow-up

  Current Treatment Requirements

  • CPAP ventilatory support — continuous positive airway pressure to support breathing without a mechanical ventilator; the baby cannot sustain breathing independently

  • IV antibiotics — treatment for clinical sepsis and prevention of further infection in an immune system that has almost no defences

  • Phototherapy — light therapy to reduce dangerously elevated bilirubin levels and prevent neurological damage from jaundice

  • Parenteral nutrition — nutrients delivered intravenously as the gut is too immature to absorb oral or tube feeds adequately

  • Thyroid monitoring — TSH follow-up to ensure thyroid function stabilises as the baby matures

  • Round-the-clock monitoring of oxygen levels, heart rate, bilirubin, temperature, blood pressure, and infection markers

    Estimated Cost of Treatment NICU Treatment (1–1.5 months) : ₹2,00,000 – ₹2,50,000 Medicines : ₹75,000 – ₹1,00,000 Total Estimated Cost : ₹2,75,000 – ₹3,50,000

    Why This Is Critical

    A baby born at 28 weeks is not just premature — she is at the absolute edge of viability. At this gestational age, the brain is still forming critical connections. The lungs have barely begun producing the surfactant they need to stay open. The gut cannot process food. The immune system cannot fight infection.

    She came into the world twelve weeks too early — unplanned, unannounced, and completely unprepared for. Her mother is recovering. Her father is managing everything from Pune on a factory worker's salary. Her older sibling is at home. And she is in the NICU, fighting more battles than any 8-day-old should ever have to face.

    Sambhaji is not a man without will. He is a man without means. He will do anything for his daughter. He simply cannot do this financially alone.

    Your support — whatever you are able to give — goes directly toward her CPAP support, her antibiotics, her phototherapy, her nutrition, and the 1 to 1.5 months of intensive NICU care that stand between this tiny girl and the chance to finally go home.

    She is 8 days old. She weighs 1.21 kg. She was born 12 weeks too soon. She is still fighting.

    Please help Karuna and Sambhaji bring their daughter home.