At The Leprosy Mission, we believe every child deserves a chance to learn, to play, and to dream again. But right now, leprosy continues to quietly spread in pockets across India-especially in marginalised communities-robbing children of that chance.

One of those children is Ayaan Mahato, a 15-year-old boy from a remote village in Bihar. He has spent the last two years silently battling a disease he and his family knew almost nothing about. Ayaan is the third child in a family of six. His father is a sharecropper-farming land that isn’t his own and earning just enough to keep the family fed. Despite the odds, he is full of dreams and hopes for a better life. But everything changed when he noticed small white patches on his left hand.

Like many children, Ayaan didn’t think much of it at first. When the patches spread, a local doctor gave him some medicines. For a while, they seemed to work. But then came the numbness.

He began losing sensation in his left hand. Holding a pen became difficult. Buttoning a shirt became a frustrating task. Soon, his fingers started curling-a visible sign of nerve damage known as a “claw hand.”

That’s when the local doctor referred him to a government hospital – about 82 kilometres away from his village. The journey is a long one, nearly 3 hours by train, and unbearably difficult during the scorching summer months. When Ayaan finally reached the hospital, he was told he had leprosy-a disease his family had never heard much about.

Understandably, he was scared. Would it spread? Would it ever go away? Could he go back to school? Could he ever use his hand normally again?

The doctors started him on Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT)-the standard medication for leprosy-which he completed. But the damage had already set in. Due to the delayed diagnosis and lack of awareness, the nerves in his left hand were permanently affected.

The doctors from the government hospital offered hope. Reconstructive surgery could improve the function in his hand.

Ayaan has been referred to The Leprosy Mission Hospital in Muzaffarpur, a specialised centre equipped to handle leprosy-related complications and surgeries. He has already undergone comprehensive blood tests, vital checks, and a full physiotherapy assessment. His doctors and therapists are hopeful, but he will need to be admitted for over a month to undergo pre- and post-operative care.

For a family that barely makes ends meet, even one hospital trip is a burden. A month-long stay, surgery, and rehabilitation are simply out of reach.

This isn’t just a medical journey. It’s a journey back to childhood, back to school, and back to hope.

By giving today, you’ll not only help Ayaan, but you’ll help others who are silently suffering from undiagnosed leprosy.

Please don’t wait. Children like Ayaan can’t afford to wait.