Our Beneficiaries

Mr. S. Sivakandan, male, single, aged 30 years, resides in Ambattur, Chennai. His father is a watchman and mother is no more. He has two brothers and two sisters. He worked as a plumber for 4 years and has been working as a watchman since 2006 earning Rs. 4,000/- per month.

He was treated for Nephrotic Syndrome when he was 15 years old and took irregular treatment. He developed Chronic Kidney Disease in 2005 and thereafter was on dialysis in a Government Hospital.

He came to TANKER in March 2009 with a Hemoglobin level of 5.2 gm/dl. Since he had symptomatic pleural effusion, he was started on Anti Tuberculosis Treatment in April 2009 and he continued the course for 9 months and completed the treatment. His general condition has improved. His Hemoglobin level is stable between 9.9 - 10.0 gm/dl. He is also continuing to work and his health has improved vastly with regular dialysis at TANKER.

Mr. P. Muthukani, male, married, aged 49 years, resides in Villivakkam, Chennai. His wife is a homemaker and they have two daughters. He owned a provision shop till 2005. But he gave it to his younger brother due to his health problems. He gets Rs. 10,000/- per month as a compensation for the shop.

He developed Acute Renal Failure in 2004 and recovered in one month�s time. Six months later he had chikungunea and developed permanent renal failure and thereafter started his dialysis in a private hospital from February 2005. From February 2005 to May 2007 he spent more than Rs. 4,00,000/- for his dialysis treatment. As he was not able to afford the charges at the private hospital, he joined TANKER dialysis unit in May 2007.

In April 2009 he had bone Tuberculosis and lost 20 kgs of weight in 6 months time. He was treated with anti tuberculosis medication. He gradually regained 10 kgs and there has been a marked improvement in his well being.

Mrs. Lilly George, 48 years of age, is a widow residing in Thirumangalam, Chennai. Her husband, who was a diabetic patient and worked as a Clerk in English Electric Company, passed away in 1996. She has three daughters. Two of her daughters, Mrs. Joli Devakerubai & Mrs. Beulah are married homemakers. Her third daughter, Ms. Jean, with a M.A. in Human Resources, works in a Call Centre at Velachery. Ms. Jean's earnings are the only source of income and she also takes care of her mother�s dialysis expenses.

Mrs. Lilly George began showing the symptoms of renal failure, she started vomiting severely, had loss of appetite and a drastic weight loss. She consulted a doctor at a Private hospital in Chennai and was diagnosed with renal failure in 2006.

She was referred to TANKER due to her dire financial situation and joined our Subsidized Dialysis Unit on the 21st of January 2007.

Mrs. Rathinakumari, 38 years of age, married to Mr. Selvam, resides in Ayanavaram, Chennai. She is a homemaker and her husband works as a Mechanic in the transport department earning around Rs. 5,000/- per month. She has a son and a daughter. Both are school going children.

She was suffering from severe throat pain for which she went to go see a local doctor. The doctor prescribed a short-term heavy dosage of a potent pharmaceutical drug. Subsequently, without consulting the doctor, she continued taking the medicine and this severely affected her otherwise healthy and functioning kidneys. In 2004, she was diagnosed with renal failure. ("Taking over-the-counter painkillers and antibiotics without a doctor�s supervision could lead to kidney failure").

A fistula surgery was done at the Government Hospital, Chennai and dialysis was conducted but she soon had to stop due to the Government hospital policy of providing dialysis only for those with available donors. She continued her dialysis at a private hospital that charged between Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 1,500/- per dialysis, which she couldn�t afford long term. One of our patients introduced her to TANKER Foundation and she joined our dialysis unit on the 22nd of June, 2005.

Mrs. Indirani, 57 years of age, resides in Kanchipuram with her family. She has two daughters and one son. Her first daughter is married and settled in Chennai. Her second daughter Ms. Senthamizselvi is doing her UG course through correspondence. Her third son is working in a petty shop earning around Rs. 4,500/- per month and he is the only person earning in the family. Her husband, 64 years of age, is unable to work due to adverse health factors. From the time of birth, both of Mrs. Indrani�s kidneys were small in size. In 2006, when she was 50 years old, her kidneys started failing.

She was diagnosed with renal failure and started her dialysis at a private hospital in Chennai from 2007. The cost per dialysis was Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 1,500/- and as she was not able to meet the expenses she was referred to TANKER and joined our Subsidized Dialysis unit on 5th February 2008.

Mr. T.S. Sekar, married, aged 46, residing in Kanchipuram District works as a Driver and earns around Rs. 3,000/- p.m. He has done his SSLC and has one son, Mr. Devanth, aged 14 years, studying in IX-Std and a daughter, Ms. Madhuvanthi, aged 12 years, studying in VII-Std. His wife Mrs. Pushpavathy, aged 40 years, studied upto X-Std and is a housewife.

He was diagnosed with renal failure and was admitted for treatment at a private hospital and put on dialysis. His brother and family members did their best to help him to meet his dialysis costs. As it became unaffordable after some time, he approached TANKER's Subsidized Dialysis Unit and joined us on 12th August 2003.

Investigation

Ms. Thenmozhi is aged 31 years and has been separated from her husband, due to her kidney failure. She is staying with her parents in Tharamani, Chennai. Her mother works as a sweeper in a ration shop and earns Rs. 4000/- per month. Her elder brother is working in a Xerox Centre earning Rs. 2500/- per month and younger brother is school going. In 2009, she was diagnosed with kidney failure and advised for transplant. She underwent transplant in March 2011 at KMC hospital, Chennai. Her mother was the donor. She approached us for financial assistance for Tacrolimus Level test, which was done with help from TANKER donors.

Mrs. Alamelu, 35 years old, suffered from kidney failure in 2009. Her husband, a farmer is supporting her for dialysis. She has one school-going son. She started dialysis at Appasamy Hospital, Chennai. She was advised to have a test for HCV RNA (Quantification by Real time SDS), which was done with help from TANKER donors.

Fistula

Mr. R. Gajendiren, who is 21 years old, resides in Tanjavur District. His father works as a farmer coolie and earns Rs. 3000/- per month. Mother is a home maker. His elder brother is looking for a job and younger brother is studying 9th class. He was affected with renal failure due to uncontrolled high blood pressure in April, 2011. He was advised for dialysis and has approached us for financial assistance for his Fistula Surgery. Tanker donors kindly helped him with his surgery costs and now he undergoes dialysis regularly.

Mr. M. Parthasarathy is 39 years old and developed renal failure in 2007. He is an Auto Driver and has a son who is studying in Standard 2. He gets partial financial support from his sister. Five months ago his A.V. Fistula was damaged and he had to undergo dialysis via a catheter (dialysis done via neck). As it is not advisable to do dialysis via catheter method on a long-term basis, he had to undergo a second A.V. Fistula Surgery, which was heavily discounted at Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre in of May 2010. A TANKER donor kindly helped him with his surgery costs.

Transplantation

Mr. S. J. Chinnasamy aged 49 years, resides in Trichy District. His wife donated one of her kidneys to him. He has three sons. His wife and elder son work as farmer coolies and support his family and the other two sons are school going. His symptoms of renal failure started on 2009. He had the problem of vomiting and leg swelling and was taken to a private hospital in Trichy. As they were not able to afford the hospital charges, he was shifted to another private hospital in Coimbatore where he underwent dialysis for two years. His family and relatives helped him meet the dialysis expenses. He approached TANKER for financial assistance for his transplantation expenses. TANKER helped him partly for his kidney transplant costs. The transplant was done on 29th June 2011 at a private hospital in Coimbatore and was successful. He is now leading a normal life.

Mr. Udayabhanu aged 37 years, developed renal failure 4 years ago. His wife donated one of her kidneys for him. He has two sons who are studying 3rd and 7th standard respectively. His wife is working in a private company and earning Rs. 7,500/- per month. He was diabetic and took ineffective herbal medicines for it and as a result ended up having renal failure. He was diagonised with renal failure in a Private Hospital at Kochi year 2006 and had undergone dialysis for 3 years. His family and relatives had helped out with dialysis expenses but could not afford the transplant cost. TANKER helped him partly for his kidney transplantation costs.

Mr. Udayabhanu approached us for financial support. The transplantation was done on 25th June 2010, at a Private Hospital in Kochi.

Medication

Ms. K. Muthuselvi, who is 28 years old, resides in Porur, Chennai. In 2010, she was diagnosed with renal failure due to uncontrolled high blood pressure and was advised for transplant. She underwent cadaver transplantation in a Private Hospital in December 2010. Her father is transplant patient and mother is a home maker. All transplant patients are required to take anti – rejection medication for the rest of their lives. The monthly expenses for her medicines is nearly Rs. 10,000/-. As she could not afford to meet her medical expenses, she approached TANKER for financial assistance for medication, which we were fortunately able to provide thanks to our generous donors.

Mr. Velumani aged 38 years, residing at Erode, had undergone renal transplantation at Kovai Medical Centre on 18th of April 2009. His wife was the kidney donor. He has a 9 year old son. He used to work as a driver and was earning Rs. 6,000/- per month. Due to his health condition, he is now working in a provision shop and earning Rs. 4000/- a month. The monthly expense for the medicines prescribed is nearly Rs. 10,000. As he could not afford to meet his medicine expenses, he approached us for financial assistance for medication, which we were fortunately able to provide thanks to our generous donors.

Dialysis

Mrs. P.S. Bhuvaneshwari, aged 41 years resides in Chennai with her parents. She is a divorcee and has no children. Her father is a retired railway employee and gets a pension. She has a brother who is married and settled. Both of them support her for her dialysis. In 2000, she had an accident and broke her legs. She was treated in a private hospital and was under medication. In 2004 she became very serious; she was taken to a private hospital again and was diagnosed with renal failure. She was on dialysis for two years. The cost per dialysis in private hospitals ranges from Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 2,500/- plus consumables. As she was not able to afford her dialysis expenses, she was referred to TANKER Foundation and joined us on 15th March 2006. She does not have a related donor and is not interested in registering for Cadaver Transplant due to her disability. Her health has improved greatly after taking regular dialysis at TANKER’s Ambattur Unit.