“Thanks to HWCT, I could get back to the fields”- A Story of 87-Year-Old Yashodhar Vaity

Yashodhar Vaity, an 87-year-old farmer, was born and brought up at Parli Village, Maharashtra. He is the owner of a 15-acre farming land that is taken care of by him and his wife. “Everything was going well till a few months back,” said Yashodhar. “My daughter got married in a good family and my son earns pretty well in a factory, which is few villages away. It’s all God’s grace that things went well for us.”

But in the past few months, Yashodhar was falling sick which prevented him from helping his wife in the fields. He faced extreme pain in his right knee which got him completely bedridden. With little help from the neighbors, his aged wife was taking care of both the house and the field.

This went on for months till HWCT set a medical camp in Parli and Yashodhar’s wife visited the camp to seek assistance. “My husband hasn’t been able to leave the bed for almost 9 months now,” she said with a cracked voice. “I am getting old too and I can barely manage all the work. I feel like my husband is slowly losing all hopes to recover and as a wife, I can’t bear to see him like this, can you please help us?”

After a few days, HWCT scheduled a visit to the Vaity family. We saw an old man with a swollen knee sitting almost lifelessly on a madur mat. After a short conversation with him, we got to know that a few months back Yashodhar visited a nearby hospital where he was suggested a costly knee surgery, something the Vaity family could not afford, and asking for money from his children would be too embarrassing for the husband-wife.

With the help of HWCT and his loving wife, Yashodhar Ji is back to the fields after 4-month long treatment. He was one of the many aged people in India who are bedridden and whose conditions are often neglected. These people are faced with numerous physical, psychological, and social role changes that challenge their sense of self and capacity to live happily.