Mumbai: Students pool in funds for Bandra's beloved teacher

Nana Hazel Branche had gone to Florida to visit her great-grandchildren

Nana Hazel Branche, 99, was barely more than a child herself when she started teaching kindergarten. Over the last 80 years, she has taught scores of children to become good people - a lesson her old students have clearly not forgotten, as they pool their resources to help their favourite teacher who suffered a stroke in Florida two weeks ago.

Bandra nonagenarian Nana had flown to the US to visit her great-grandchildren, but is unable to fly back until her treatment is completed. Her daughter, Judy, said, "She reached Florida on April 19 and was very tired and went to sleep. The next afternoon, when Ian (her grandson) went to wake her up, she couldn't move or speak. Doctors said that she had suffered a stroke, and the clot may have travelled to her brain. When I spoke to her over the phone last week, she couldn't properly form sentences or even say our names. She is unable to move her right side."

These restrictions are new for Nana, whom Judy described as 'fiercely independent'. "Nana is blessed with this amazing energy; she is quite a show-off about it actually. She visits old age homes on Sundays, and entertains the people there, even though they are all about 20 to 30 years younger than her."

Nana Branche with former student Shruti Tandan at the reunion

Expensive treatment
Judy explained that insurance wasn't readily available for someone of Nana's age, and that the high costs of hospitalisation and rehabilitation in the US will have to be borne by the family, since Nana is not in a condition to fly back home right now.

"The doctors say that if she is discharged from the hospital, she needs to be taken straight to a rehabilitation centre. Without their (doctor's) green signal, the airlines won't let her fly back. The cost of for a month of rehab is $48,000 (around Rs 32 lakh), and the hospital costs are going to be much more. We don't have that kind of money and she doesn't have insurance."

To tackle the bills, Nana's family set up a crowd-funding page on GoFundMe four days ago, and have already managed to raise close to $28,000 (approximately Rs 18.66 lakh). Most of the money has come from Nana's ex-students and well-wishers.

Judy said, "I feel really bad about all of this; all of us think that it is a ridiculously high sum of money that needs to be paid, but since she is stuck there, we want to give her the treatment she needs and deserves. For this, we need money. The response on the crowd-funding page has been amazing."

Nana had gone to Florida to visit her great-grandchildren

Student's fond memories
One of Nana's former students, Shruti Tandan, 40, a critical care consultant at Jaslok and Bhatia Hospital, recalled, "Nana was my KG teacher at Villa Teresa school (Peddar Road), and she is one of the kindest souls you will ever meet. Talking about her right now, I can't but smile. Nana was always smiling, energetic, and accepting. Through the years, she has always been full of spirit; I cannot wear high heels properly even today, and she was 95 when she was dancing in heels at our reunion. I think she still wants to dance."

At the reunion, the alumni had started a small trust for their teachers, said Shruti, adding, "They are not covered by insurance, and have a pension of around Rs 300 a month. As of now, we have around $3,000 (around R2 lakh) in the fund, and are planning on wiring it directly to Nana's family in Florida. A lot of my friends from the medical fraternity are also happy to help free-of-charge, except for the hospitalisation fees, which we cannot cover."

Want to help?
Visit the crowd-funding page for Nanaâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Branche's treatment : goo.gl/2r8Dty

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