Diabetic faces loss of sight as well as legs

John Pinto urgently needs surgery but Valley of Love, which is dedicated to looking after Indian expatriates, is struggling to find the money.

John Pinto at his home in Sharjah. He is now back in hospital in India and may lose his vision through complications of diabetes.

Valley of Love knows all about John Pinto, an Indian who suffers from severe complications from his diabetes. What the charity does not know is whether it can help him secure and pay for yet more surgery in his homeland.

Devoted to caring for Indian expatriates, including labourers, who need financial help, Valley of Love undertakes such tasks as repatriating bodies and helping to find and pay for medical care and doctors in India. But, like many charities, it is having a hard time meeting demand because of the new economic reality. Its administrators admit to feeling "bad" about returning to the same donors time and again.

"With more and more cases building up," said CP Mathew, one of its founders, "it is a limited base that we can tap into." Mr Pinto's case was brought to the organisation's attention this year. From 1986, the 59-year-old had worked with the municipality in Sharjah and the Early Learning Centre at the Science Museum there. However, he was made redundant almost a decade ago after he suffered complications from diabetes and developed a heart condition.

"He was sick. He was not able to work," said his wife Lily, also 59. She started working as a secretary in Dubai's Al Quoz Industrial Area to make ends meet. She has raised their only son, who is 17, and managed to meet most of her husband's medical expenses until he was required to undergo two amputations - both legs - within the past year. Now he has developed complications in both eyes, which will also require surgery.

"Blood was not circulating properly to his legs," said Mrs Pinto. "He is already blind in one eye and needs surgery in the other eye, otherwise he will go blind." Members of Valley of Love arranged to have him fitted with two artificial legs from Jaipur Foot, an organisation based in the Indian state of Rajasthan, that provides and fits artificial limbs at no cost, and helped Mrs Pinto and her son stay in Jaipur for 15 days while Mr Pinto received a pair of limbs.

In the middle of all that, said Mr Mathew, "we were told by doctors that immediate [eye] surgery is required, so our attention got diverted but we still arranged for the fitting before trying to rush around for an eye doctor". He added: "A private clinic quoted us some astronomical sum for the eye surgery but our volunteers were able to locate another hospital that would do it for a fraction of the original cost."

Even so, the money has not been forthcoming. So far Valley of Love has funded several trips to India for Mr Pinto, accompanied by his family, for the amputations and fittings. However, it has not been able to get funding for the eye surgery, which is crucial. "We are not very good with ongoing cases," said Mr Mathew. "Usually with a one-time situation, people will dig deep into their pockets and give, but to keep going back to the same people for the same beneficiaries poses a new set of complications."

The surgery requires 30,000 rupees (Dh2,300) not including extra costs such as the price of tickets for Mrs Pinto and her son - her husband is in an Indian hospital where his condition is being monitored. She had wanted to buy the tickets on her credit card, but volunteers at the charity - who are also familiar with dealing with people in jail over unpaid borrowings - said that they had managed to dissuade her from going deeper into debt.

"Beyond buying the tickets, she had no idea or had made no arrangements for accommodation, further medical treatment after the operation," Mr Mathew said. "Obviously, she desperately wants to be reunited with her husband, but she wanted to leave everything to God. So we were trying our best in the meantime to help her because she is so distressed. She is unable to think about the financial consequences but we are."

Since then, an anonymous donor has come forward to pay for the air tickets for Mrs Pinto and her son. Funds for the operation are proving harder to collect. "Either it is us digging into our own pockets or asking the same people for help," said Mr Mathew. "We have to call and ask the same people. Right now, the people we are asking are not in town or have already contributed. We feel bad about testing them."