A brilliant student’s million-rupee battle against cancer

Like any young person who has ventured abroad for the first time, next to the warmth of his family's love, 22-year-old Piyumal Gunawardene misses his mother's cooking the most, especially the plate of steaming hot red rice which is the staple at their home in Matara. But unlike others, Piyumal doesn't know if he will ever be able to eat solid food again, or whether he will even live to see his family again.

The last Sinhala New Year was an especially happy one for Piyumal. Able to take a break from the demanding schedule of his third-year studies at the Engineering Faculty of the University of Moratuwa, Piyumal enthusiastically joined in the New Year games with his friends and family in Matara.

But the next day, before heading back to Moratuwa he sought medical attention for a troublesome wound on his tongue. When the medication didn't help however, and the wound was getting worse, another visit to the doctor's and a biopsy report left him and his family reeling. This bright and energetic boy, who ranked 16th in the island at his A/L examination and had a promising future ahead of him, was told that he was suffering from the early stages of cancer in his tongue and throat.

He immediately started chemotherapy and radiation treatments at the Maharagama and Karapitiya Hospitals, which drained him, both physically and emotionally. At the end of two months, he was declared cured and sent back home. A month later, when the left side of his face began to lose sensation, doctors dismissed it as a side effect of the chemotherapy treatments, but second opinions and further tests revealed that the cancer was not gone.

In a desperate attempt, the family collected enough money to take him to the Apollo Hospital in India, where they were told surgery could remove the cancer and reconstruct Piyumal's tongue and throat area, which techniques are unavailable in Sri Lanka. But when Piyumal was wheeled into the theatre on the day of the surgery, his family was crushed to learn that final tests inside the theatre revealed that the cancer had spread rapidly to an extent that it was now inoperable.

As a distressed Piyumal returned to Sri Lanka, friends put him in touch with the Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore. Doctors there examined his reports and told him they could help. Once again his family, leaving no stone unturned to save the life of their beloved son and brother, turned to kind benefactors with a plea to save Piyumal's life.

With the help of these contributions, Piyumal is now undergoing chemotherapy at the Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore. But already the estimated cost of Rs. 2 million for the chemotherapy has gone up as doctors found he needed more treatment. An emergency surgery just last week to repair a vein in his mouth which was blocking the blood flow from the brain has taken the total cost of his treatment so far to more than Rs. 4 million.

The sum is far beyond what his family is able to collect. The main surgery which will remove and reconstruct his entire tongue and parts of his throat is estimated to cost Rs. 4.5 million. But with no more money and all avenues of finances exhausted, Piyumal now spends each day anxiously waiting to hear if he will live another month, another year.

Piyumal's father is a retired station master and his mother a school teacher. With a modest joint income, they are struggling to support five children through their studies, as they dream the dream of every parent, that of a better life for their children. But their son's suffering weighs heavily on their hearts, and with the desperation of knowing that time is running out, and that all they need to save their child's life is money, the family, in their own words, 'outstretch our hands and request you, please, if you have a heart, help us'.

A joint account at the Bank of Ceylon, Bazaar branch, Matara numbered 1661497 in the names of M.A. Gunawardana and S. Gunawardana has been set up to receive contributions. Piyumal's brother Chalitha can be contacted on telephone number 0779182533 or his sister Madhubhashini on 0786071739.