A story of crisis, care and coming back stronger.

When 3-year-old Shreyansh from Mumbai was rushed to our partner hospital, his body was shutting down. He had been diagnosed with B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, a type of blood cancer. Then, a rotavirus stomach infection left him too weak to eat or drink. His body couldn’t keep anything down. 

His parents watched as their son became weaker with each passing hour. The fear was unbearable. They were already dealing with the shock of cancer. Now, an otherwise common childhood infection that would normally resolve in days had become dangerous; his weakened body couldn’t fight it off, and he couldn’t keep any food or water down.

His mother, Dhanashree Kokane, stayed by his side through every hard night. His father works as a supervisor in construction and kept working to support the family while worrying about his son. His grandmother was there too, helping quietly in a home that now revolved around hospital visits and treatment schedules.

“We felt scared and confused,” his parents say. “We kept wondering if he would get better. And we didn’t understand how he could recover if he couldn’t even eat.”

When Cuddles nutritionist Kishoree Jadhav first met Shreyansh, the situation was serious. His body was very weak and malnourished. He couldn’t eat anything. His stomach simply couldn’t handle it. The doctors made a quick decision. They started something called Total Parenteral Nutrition, or TPN. This meant giving him all the nutrition his body needed directly through his veins, skipping his stomach completely.

This was what saved him.

“TPN made sure his body got the calories, proteins and nutrients it desperately needed,” Kishoree explains. “Without it, he would have become much worse.”

For days, his parents sat beside him in the ICU, looking for any sign that he was getting better. Then, one afternoon, Shreyansh responded. Just a little. A small movement. A flicker of awareness. It was the first sign in days that things might be turning around.

That moment, and a comforting conversation with Kishoree who explained that he was slowly improving, gave them the strength to keep going.

Slowly, as the infection cleared and his body began to heal, he started tolerating oral feeds. His weight became stable. His energy came back. With steady support through supplements, monthly rations and hospital meals, he went from being in a life-threatening condition to stable and recovering.

Today, he is no longer in danger. His nutritional status has improved a lot, and his body is handling treatment much better. He is stronger than he was when he arrived.

The bond between Shreyansh and Kishoree is built on trust. His parents say her presence felt caring and comforting. “She watched his needs closely at every stage,” they say. “We felt supported. We knew he was getting the care he needed.”

When asked what he wants to do after treatment, Shreyansh says he wants to visit his native place with his family. And when he grows up? He wants to become a doctor.

His family’s message to others walking this path is simple. “Stay strong and don’t lose hope. Early care and the right support can make a big difference in your child’s recovery. Trust your medical and nutrition team, keep faith, and take one day at a time. Your strength will help your child fight through this.”

This story reminds us that recovery doesn’t always begin with medicine alone. Sometimes it begins with making sure a body gets what it needs to survive. In careful feeding. In medical care. In a child who slowly finds his strength again.

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