"As Teena Punjwani and Deepak Nasta take stock of the last year, they sigh. "I feel like I've lived too many lifetimes in this one lifetime," Punjwani said. The San Jose couple's life together was thrown into chaos in February with a heartbreaking diagnosis: their 5-year-old son, Jayaan, had brain cancer. His parents had sensed that something was off last winter, when Jayaan's writing skills nosedived at preschool and he mysteriously lost balance on the left side of his body."
"After a hospital social worker pointed them to the nonprofit, the family said, Jacob's Heart provided a slew of resources with all the care and attention of a family member. The nonprofit has paid for their energy bills at home, plus their groceries and gas. Nasta is the family's sole breadwinner at the moment as Punjwani practically lives at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford with Jayaan."
"The nonprofit also dispatched van drivers to whisk them from their home to medical appointments, as early as 6 a.m. or as late as 10 p.m. - and in emergencies, such as a day this fall when Jayaan became unresponsive and landed in the pediatric intensive care unit for a month "They're such an amazing team," Nasta said. "We honestly could not do it without them.""
A San Jose couple's life was disrupted in February when their 5-year-old son, Jayaan, was diagnosed with brain cancer. Parents noticed a sudden drop in his writing skills and left-side balance loss the previous winter. Jayaan underwent brain surgery and chemotherapy and attended numerous occupational therapy, physical therapy, blood tests and MRI appointments. Jacob's Heart provided financial assistance for energy bills, groceries and gas, organized rides to medical appointments at varied hours, and sent staff who visited with toys after hospital discharge. The family's father is the sole breadwinner while the mother stays at the hospital during treatment.
Read at The Mercury News
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