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A little girl’s dream fulfilled

BANGALORE: It is a dream of a young daughter being fulfilled by her mother.

Priyanka Child Life Services, a project in memory of Priyanka Bhakta who battled leukaemia at the Children’s Hospital and Clinics in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was inaugurated at the Manipal Hospital in the city on Thursday.

Diagnosed with cancer at four, Priyanka Bhakta died when she was eight years old from complications during bone marrow transplant.

Her frequent hospital stays were made comfortable by the benefits and support of the child life centre of the hospital where she was being treated. The Priyanka Foundation was established in her memory to support programmes in the country for chronically ill children to have similar opportunities for emotional healing and support during their hospital stay.

Priyanka Child Life Services has been initiated by the Priyanka Foundation and Manipal Foundation to provide care and support to terminally ill children.

The facility was launched here by the First Lady of Minnesota, Mary Pawlenty.

Balachandran Warrier, Chief Executive Officer of the Manipal Foundation, said, “The Priyanka Child Life Services programme at the Manipal Hospital will be modelled after the Child Life Centre (CLC) concept. The CLC is an innovative global concept that makes a significant and positive impact in the medical world for sick children and their families.”

The range of services at Priyanka Child Life Centre include conducting pre-surgery tours and preparation for children scheduled for surgery, teaching relaxation and mental imagery techniques to help such children to control pain and to deal with anxiety or cope with medical procedures, providing support for a patient’s siblings and facilitating support groups for children facing a chronic or life-threatening illness or experiencing a family loss, bringing celebrities, athletes, and other entertainment-based performers to interact with such children.

Priyanka Bhakta’s grandmother Asha Rao, and Leela Rao, founder and president of the Priyanka Foundation, attended the inaugural function.

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