“I had just graduated to the job of a mason after working for many many years as a daily wage labourer,” Rajkumar, 35, said. “And it was then that I picked up this nasty habit of chewing tobacco. With my salary of Rs. 300 a day, and knowing well the ill effects of tobacco on health, I should have been more prudent” he added. Rajkumar, who is from Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, India, tells his story which is a testimony to how a seemingly innocuous habit could almost ruin a life. And more importantly how Swami, in His own unique way, gives people hope and a second chance at life. 

“I have a family of five - my mother, my wife, my daughter, my younger brother and myself. I am the sole bread earner, earning Rs. 300 a day. On an average I would get around 20 days of work in a month, which is just enough money for the family to scrape through its needs. Sometimes when there is less work I have to take loan from my friends and relatives to keep the family going. Chewing tobacco started casually,” Rajkumar said. “But then it had me firmly in its grip.  I could not do without it,” he said. 

Around 7 years later, one day when Rajkumar was going about his business, he felt a small growth on the right side of his jaw. He did not make much of it. “It was a small growth initially, but it slowly started growing and progressively it became more and more painful. I had no clue what I was getting into” he said. 

Rajkumar first went to a local physician who gave him some medicines, but they had no effect on the growth. As its size started increasing, Rajkumar went to the town of Satna which was the nearest town from his village. “Here also they gave some more medicines, which again had no effect on my problem. Eventually, I went to Jabalpur which is around 250 kms from my village and is a large town,” Rajkumar said.  The doctors in Jabalpur performed some tests and then told me that it was a tumour. They also informed Rajkumar that the cause of the tumour was his tobacco chewing habit. “It was one of those days when I felt, I could have easily avoided getting myself into this situation, but it was too late.” Rajkumar said. 

But the worst was yet to come. The doctors told Rajkumar that it had to be surgically removed as soon as possible, and the closest place where the surgery could be done was Nagpur, in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra.    

Rajkumar and his wife Sita made their way to Nagpur. When they were told that the surgery would cost anywhere from Rs. 100,000 ($1420) to Rs. 150,000 ($2140) they returned home, unable pay the exorbitant amount. “Ours is a large family and the income is just about enough to meet the basic needs. So there was no way that we could have saved such a large amount of money,” Sita said. “We had no other option but to return home”, she added.    

Sometimes it so happens that something we are searching for everywhere else, Swami literally brings it to our doorstep. 

“Misra ji was my uncle’s close friend. One day when I was visiting my uncle, Mishra Ji came there on some personal work.  He looked at me and asked my uncle what had happened to my jaw. Overhearing the conversation I told him the whole story,” Rajkumar said. Mishra ji had visited the SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, a few years earlier for getting his heart surgery done and therefore knew that Plastic Surgery was available at the hospital. He, therefore, told Rajkumar not to delay and reach the Prasanthigram hospital as soon as possible.  We were concerned about the money we would have to pay for the operation, but Mishra Ji smiled and said ‘It is totally free.' “I have got my heart surgery done there, it is completely free of any charges you can trust me,” Mishra Ji told Rajkumar.  

Without delay Rajkumar and Sita reached the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram. 

“As beautiful is the hospital from outside so are the people inside - loving and compassionate. Some indescribable calm envelopes me whenever I enter the hospital building. There is something Divine about it. It is God’s temple,” Rajkumar said. “It is a temple of Bhagawan Baba,” Sita agreed. 

At the hospital, after the preliminary tests the surgeons of the Plastic Surgery department came to the same conclusion as the surgeons in Nagpur. A surgery had to be performed to remove the tumour and the jaw had to be reconstructed 

According to Senior Consultant, Plastic Surgery Department, and Director of SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram, Dr. Gurumurthy, the tumour had formed due to prolonged use of tobacco and had covered most of his lower jaw, which was to be removed.  After the jaw was removed it was reconstructed by taking an 8-centimeter piece of bone from the pelvic bone and fixed to both ends of the lower jaw with wires and screws. According to Dr. Gurumurthy, the patient is now free of the disease and he could go back to his routine activities. “The kind of tumour that Rajkumar had rarely recurs, so Rajkumar is totally free from the disease,” Dr. Gurumurthy said. “Rajkumar’s case also serves as a warning to lakhs of people in our country who chew tobacco. They all must give up this dreadful habit immediately,” Dr. Gurumurthy added. 

 “When we go to outside hospitals for treatment, they scare us with high-sounding words about the disease and later about the fee for the treatment. But in this hospital everything happens so calmly. In fact, I did not even feel that my operation was done when I returned from the theatre. In Bhagawan Baba’s hospital, they explain the exact condition of the disease and boost the morale of the patients,” Rajkumar said. 

Rajkumar has vowed not to touch tobacco ever again. He has completely transformed his life and decided to create awareness among the people around him about dangers of using tobacco. “Swami gave me a new life and I am going to make the best of it. No more bad habits!” Rajkumar said.