RAIPUR: Suraj Verma, a 19-year-old artist from Baloda Bazar district of Chhattisgarh, has turned to art to fund his medical expenses and support his family, despite struggling with a renal problem and financial difficulties.
His inspiring journey demonstrates that even in adversity, one can find hope and strength through creativity and determination.
He was diagnosed with a kidney issue in 2019 and has been struggling to maintain his treatment due to financial difficulties.
However, his passion for sketching has led him to create portraits of people, which he sells to cover his medical expenses and support his family. In mid-2018, Suraj landed in the emergency wing of a private hospital in Nagpur due to severe stomach ache and swelling in his body. Several tests were done, and it was discovered that he had a kidney issue that required dialysis.
Dialysis is an expensive treatment that requires regular sessions to maintain kidney function, which was challenging for the young man. He is the son of a farmer with a family consisting of a mother, a sister, and an elder brother. In the initial months, he dropped the decision to have medicines, which further led to an infection in the kidneys.
Not having access to insurance and financial assistance made things even harder. During that time, Verma was shifted to a room near the hospital from where he used to go for his regular medications and dialysis that was conducted thrice a week for almost two to three months continuously.
One day, when one of his aunts came to check on him, she mentioned how the radiation from his mobile phone would harm his health and advised him to use the social media platform positively. This advice led him to discover his passion for sketching.
He began buying pencils and drawing books and started sketching people he had made friends with. The class-10 student is now enthusiastic about his art and has started experimenting further with his set of canvas and art papers.
"I have this passion to paint and sketch, and it gives me a sense of purpose despite my health struggles. I am determined to become self-reliant through my art so that I can cover my medical expenses and not be a burden on my family," Suraj Verma told TOI.
"Suraj had approached us for medication help due to his financial constraints. Seeing his condition, he was helped by the foundation. After we came to know about his interest in paintings and art, he was then connected to a professional artist, which made him improve more in his art. The motive behind this was to make him self-reliant," said Ravindra Singh Kshatri of the Sumit Foundation.
Initially, he was hesitant about why anyone would buy paintings from him, but as his art circulated among people, some of them came up demanding portraits of themselves, gods, and their children. On presenting them their sketches and paintings, they offered him whatever they wanted to pay. The money he collects is not enough, but it helps with his regular medications, which costs him thousands. Meanwhile, he gives the leftover funds to his family.
Verma has made and sold more than 200 paintings until now, and he continues to make portraits every day.
Nephrologist Dr. Sainath Pattewar, who also treated Suraj, told TOI that the patient had symptoms of kidney swelling, which was found after an examination, due to which he complained of pain near the abdomen. His kidney was permanently damaged and had to be transplanted.
Early diagnosis and timely medical intervention make a lot of difference in the treatment results, but this was not one of those cases as he had already taken medications early, which was not fruitful for him, he added.
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