56-year-old Mumbai woman with kidney ailment defeats coronavirus

A 56-year-old patient with a chronic kidney disease, recovered from Covid-19 after 26 days and was welcomed home on Thursday. Residents of Omkar Rahiwasi Seva Sangh

A 56-year-old patient with a chronic kidney disease, recovered from Covid-19 after 26 days and was welcomed home on Thursday. Residents of Omkar Rahiwasi Seva Sangh colony in Kalachowki greeted Nilima Zore with flowers when she returned from BYL Nair Hospital, where she’d been admitted after testing positive for Covid-19.

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Zore’s husband is a retired employee of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited and the couple have a son and a daughter. Zore had an angioplasty in 2014 and has needed dialysis since 2018. She contracted Covid-19 in May. “I would regularly take my mother for dialysis to Hinduja Hospital in a family friend’s private vehicle, but due to the lockdown, we took a taxi on May 8. The next day I had fever and the day after, my mother too developed symptoms. We immediately got tested. My mother tested positive for Covid-19 on the third test while I tested positive in the second test,” said Ankita, Zore’s daughter.

On May 15, Zore was admitted to Nair Hospital, which also has a dialysis facility. Ankita was quarantined at a civic quarantine centre in the Saat Rasta area and later shifted to a Covid care centre at Nagpada for more treatment.

“On the first day in hospital, I thought that now I would never return home. But my family, society members supported me and the doctors too helped me gain confidence,” said Zore. She was discharged on Thursday after she tested negative for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

A 56-year-old patient with a chronic kidney disease, recovered from Covid-19 after 26 days and was warmly welcomed home on Thursday. Residents of Omkar Rahiwasi Seva Sangh colony in Rangari Badak Chawl area, in Kalachowki, greeted Nilima Harishchandra Zore with flowers and chanted “Ganpati Bappa Morya” when she returned from BYL Nair Hospital.

Zore’s husband is a retired employee of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited and the couple have a son and a daughter. Zore had an angioplasty in 2014 and has needed dialysis since 2018. She contracted Covid-19 in May. “I would regularly take my mother for dialysis to Hinduja Hospital in a family friend’s private vehicle, but due to the lockdown, we were forced to take a taxi on May 8. The next day I had fever and the day after, my mother too developed symptoms such as fever, vomiting, cold, cough and sore throat. We immediately got tested at Hinduja Hospital. Initially, the reports were negative, but my mother tested positive for Covid-19 on the third test while I tested positive in the second test,” said Ankita, Zore’s daughter.

On May 15, with the help of Omkar Rahiwasi Seva Sangh colony’s society members, Zore was admitted to Nair Hospital, which also has a dialysis facility. Ankita was quarantined at a civic quarantine centre in the Saat Rasta area and later shifted to a Covid care centre at Nagpada for more treatment.

Zore and her family worried about her chances of survival since patients with chronic illnesses are more vulnerable to Covid-19. “On the first day in hospital, I thought that now I would never return home. But my family, society members supported me and the doctors too helped me gain confidence,” said Zore. Soon, Ankita said, Zore was the one sending her family reassuring messages, “From hospital, my mother used to tell the family that we need not worry as she would be fine soon and we would soon together go to our village to celebrate Ganeshotsav,” said Ankita.

While Zore battled the infection in hospital, her family faced challenges at home. “Forget about helping someone in such a crisis, some neighbours troubled us repeatedly by calling civic personnel and making false complaints about my family not following quarantine rules. But society members helped my family and my entire family is very grateful to them,” said Ankita.

Dayanand Ghadigaonkar, society president at the colony, said “No one in past had seen problem of such contagious infection, so no one actually knew how to deal with such situation. But we stood by the family.”

Zore was discharged on Thursday after she tested negative for Covid-19 on Wednesday.