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| PICTORIAL ESSAY |
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| Ahead of print publication |
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Fetal self-defense or maternal immune tolerance
Manish Raturi
Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
| Date of Submission | 04-Jul-2020 |
| Date of Acceptance | 04-Sep-2020 |
| Date of Web Publication | 27-Oct-2020 |
Correspondence Address:
Manish Raturi,
Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Rama Himalayan University, Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant, Dehradun - 248 016, Uttarakhand
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None DOI: 10.4103/ajiac.ajiac_8_20
Mom! I am a fraction intertwined with you,
Created and knitted in your womb…
I wish to stay here, secure and long,
While your little one is about to bloom…
Foreign! Ask your heart, am I not yours?
Your immunity assaults my very existence…
Denying me a legitimate home mother,
Once again, it's your inadvertent negligence…
Killers! Just as your Natural Killer T cells arrive,
The placental barriers bravely defend my life…
Brushing with so many interleukins and cytokines,
All my defenses have to put up a strong fight…
Pretenders! Braxton Hicks contractions contrive such an artful pretense,
Trying their best to eliminate my rightful presence…
Tell me about my crime, prove me guilty,
I wish and pray that you grasp my innocence…
Mom! Your heart beats are close and dear to me,
Help me defend my case, against this cruel aberrance…
For it is also God's grace to have kept me alive, thus far,
And courtesy not just your immune tolerance.
Acknowledgment
The author gratefully acknowledges the support of Dr. Anuradha Kusum, Professor and Head, Department of Pathology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Rama Himalayan University, Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant Dehradun, for her kind help towards the critical appraisal of the poem.
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