Dhan Bahadur’s decade-long struggle for treatment

Darchula: Along the narrow road of Tinkar Kheda—sometimes dusty, sometimes muddy, sometimes scorched blacktop—passersby often see a man crawling, a sight that has continued for the past decade. That man is 59-year-old Dhan Bahadur Chhetri of Mahakali Municipality-4.

For the last ten years, Chhetri has been dragging his body, enduring suffering far greater than what his condition outwardly reveals. What began suddenly with pain in his waist left his legs and back immobile, rendering him like a vehicle with flat tires. With no money for timely treatment and young children to care for, he was left helpless.

“Suddenly my waist stopped working. Now even going outside the house is difficult. The way society looks at me because of this disability is also painful,” Chhetri recalled. His disability began in 2071 BS and has progressively worsened.

As the waist problem intensified, his legs became completely paralyzed. “If I had had money back then, I would have gone to the hospital. With treatment, maybe my body could still move,” he said tearfully. Now, with age compounding his condition, even his hands have weakened in the past three to four years, leaving him largely dependent on his wife, Meena Chhetri.

“Since this year’s rainy season, he hasn’t been able to go out at all. The problem has become so severe that even moving him is difficult,” Meena said, lamenting that no one has come forward to help.

The couple’s only daughter, now trained as a beauty parlor worker, has become the family’s support. Chhetri receives Rs 3,000 a month as a disability allowance, and Mahakali Municipality has provided a wheelchair. However, with no nearby government offices offering further assistance, hope remains distant.

Still, the Chhetri family clings to the belief that if Dhan Bahadur could be taken to a proper hospital, some improvement—however modest—would be possible. Yet, without compassionate support and state attention, the lingering uncertainty over whether that hope will ever be fulfilled continues to weigh heavily on their lives.