Mizo child diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, family seeks help

On a Monday, beneath a clear blue sky, Mawii heard the most magical sound she had ever experienced: the first cry of her son, Aryan Lalruatfela Murthy, born on February 17, 2022. There were a lot of bad things happening around the world that Monday morning: the pandemic was still taking lives, and Russia-Ukraine tensions were high. But none of this mattered as Mawii and her husband, Nirnay Murthy, looked at their doe-eyed baby. Nothing would ever prepare them for what they were about to hear just twenty-four months later, their son would be the first half-Mizo child to be diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a rare genetic disease that affects 1 in 10,000 live-born babies.

Lalrinmawii Hmar, a resident of Saron Veng in Aizawl and her husband Nirnay Murthy of Yelahanka, Bangalore, are veterinarians. They met at Karnataka Veterinary, Animal, and Fisheries Sciences University in Bidar. They got married in December 2018. 

The couple stayed at RT Nagar in Bangalore, a quaint residential area and they both started practising. To their utter joy, they came to know that they were expecting in early 2020, however, Mawii miscarried. And then, in 2021, amid all the chaos of the pandemic, they came to know that little Aryan had started making Mawii’s womb his first home.