Little Amit in his mother’s arms. Picture by Jahangir Badsa

Midnapore, Sept. 2: A father who has lost two sons in five years wants to sell a kidney and an eye to save his two-year-old son who suffers from a rare genetic disorder.

Ashish Maity’s earlier children also suffered from the same congenital disease that has afflicted little Amit.

“I spent every penny I had and more on the treatment of my two children. I sold every household item... furniture and utensils... and now I’m a pauper,” said Maity, a tailor in Contai’s Marichda village.

The tattered thatched roof of his house, somehow covered by a patchwork of tarpaulin sheets, almost symbolises how his funds have leaked over the years.

Amit, who is 26 months old, has had a mental and physical disorder since birth. He can’t sit without support and his head and other body parts turn at 360 degrees because of a muscle disorder.

He was taken to many paediatricians. One of them, Ardhendu Sekhar Hazra, said he was suffering from hypotinia, because of which muscles do not become strong enough for normal activities. “A part of his penis is still inside the stomach,” said Hazra.

Apurba Ghosh, the director of the Institute of Child Health, Calcutta, said: “Both the parents must have been carrying the same abnormal gene.”

The type of gene determines whether the disease is fatal. “More tests have to be conducted on the baby and his parents,” Ghosh added.

Maity’s two sons had died before they turned one. “I had tried my best to save them,” he said, tears trickling down his cheeks.

Maity lost his tailoring job because of his preoccupation with his sons’ health. His wife, Madhumita, who made bidis, lost her job, too.

On his way to Contai town in East Midnapore, 180km from Calcutta, to publish an ad offering his kidney and eye, Maity met a man who introduced him to an NGO. “We’ll do our best to get his son treated,” said Utpal Roy of Diganta.

However, doctors in Calcutta said there was no treatment for Amit’s disorder.