I am a 65 years old man, widowed and a loner. I was living what I felt was a miserable life when I caught dengue. It sapped away whatever little life I was left with. I was told by my doctors that no medicine would work on me because I had already given up. My son, who was informed by my neighbor, rushed to the hospital as soon as he heard of it. I saw my grandson for the first time. I tried to take him in my arms but I was too weak to do even this. Having them around, I realized what I was missing out on. I now had a reason to live, to be happy about. I recovered miraculously which shocked even the most skeptical of doctors. My grandson is now 10 years old and will soon be coming back to his best friend, me, with never ending stories of his life.

I was a single mom and have two daughters. One would think they are almost twins but there is a difference of a year between them. They are 10 and 11 years old now. Both of them had fallen pray to dengue 3 years back. I was shattered to see both my babies fighting for their lives. But I stayed strong because they were very scared themselves. My ex husband (we had divorced long ago) also learned of their illness from a common friend and rushed to my aid. The kids were very happy to see both their mom and dad together. It was then I realized how important a complete family is for the upbringing of children. My husband also donated his platelets and revived my children. Now we have moved back together.

One night, I received a call while returning from my work place from the mum of one of my friends. I was shocked to hear her crying. She could not understand what was wrong with her son and why he was shivering so much. At once, I called my mom and asked her to go to my friend’s house. On my way I also called some of my friends who all got there on time. It was heart wrenching to see all my friends arriving at the spot on such short notice. We all donated platelets, some were rejected but it was still delightful to see that every person I called was there. It was a scary but great experience to see how friendship overcame this dreadful disease.

My brother had a very quiet life, he did not have any friends nor was he outgoing. He had no bad habits at all neither did he ever eat out. So one day when suddenly he woke up and started vomiting and shivering, all of us were scared. We took him to a nearby clinic, got him some antibiotics but his condition kept depleting. He was then admitted to a nearby hospital and we found out that his platelet count is extremely low. He was immediately put on a saline drip and I set out to find donors. It was a such a harsh night that I will never forget it. It was pouring and at 11.30 pm, my friends and I were on bikes heading towards the nearest Red Cross facility to get the platelets. My father was not in the town, so it was all down to me. We returned with the platelets around 3 am but his platelet count had fallen drastically by then. But with the platelets provided, he survived that close scare and is once again whole and hearty.

 I had just finished with my exams and was going home from my school when suddenly I started experiencing an headache. I went home and slept for a while thinking that the pain will subside, but it did not. I woke up with a severe fever and muscle cramps. In just a few hours, I was tethered to the bed by this terrible weakness. When I went for a check up, they told me the condition was severe and I need to be admitted immediately. My mom was very upset as we were planning to go on a trip just the next day. The next few days at the hospital my blood platelet count kept dipping. One night I was injected with a particular medicine and was told that if this did not stop it, nothing else would. I felt this would be my last night with my parents, that was when I felt there was so much left in the world to see and to do. I cried myself to sleep and my mother was always there by side, on my bed. My parents kept praying and cheering me by telling jokes and treating the situation with humor. Their prayers worked, my platelet count increased, and that experience always stayed with me. I became a different person altogether.