Arav Hak and Rajveer Mehta, who are 11th standard students of American School of Bombay have so far raised over Rs 2 lakh with their initial target of Rs 2.7 lakhs.
Plateletpheresis is the process of collecting platelets from the blood of a donor and it is important in cancer treatment, specifically in case of Leukaemia.
Arav Hak said about 5 years ago, when his family moved to India from the USA, and his mother joined the Nargis Dutt Foundation.
“Through the foundation, she would often go to the Tata Memorial Hospital in and tell me stories about the paediatric cancer patients she met,” he said.
For Hak, the stories of these children were heart wrenching. He said the stories showed him that besides patients had cancer, their aspirations were very similar to his own.
“I felt connected to these children. Hearing about their fight against cancer everyday motivated me to start helping them in any way I could,” he said.
Operating under the aegis of Nargis Dutt Foundation, the two youth have aimed to provide 36 Plateletpheresis kits initially. The cost of one kit is Rs 7500.
“This was why I started multiple fundraisers to try help as many children as possible and to try limit their suffering,” Hak said.
The donors are provided receipts along with granting them 80-G certificate which helps the donor to seek rebate in the annual income tax.
“One thing led to another, and I took the opportunity to give a TED talk to try to spread awareness of the issue while also trying to inspire others to support causes,” he said.
Around 230-250 paediatric cancer patients come to SKIMS annually, with many of them belonging to below the poverty line (BPL) families.
“We want to help those who cannot afford to keep themselves healthy, and buying this Plateletpheresis kits is a way to do so,” they said.
“The age group of paediatric patients is between 7 to 15 years. Since SKIMS treats a lot of haematological malignancy, they require blood product support in the form of single donor platelets. The sets for doing this collection, is too expensive,” the duo said.
“Sometimes lives are lost due to lack of platelets,” they said, adding that SKIMS receives 3-4 destitute patients every month who cannot afford this kit.
For these patients, platelets can stop developing in blood when patients have cancer, and they often need a donor to give platelets.
“To extract the platelets, there is an expensive kit required that is around 7,500 rupees. We are planning to supply kits for those who cannot afford them at SKIMS on world cancer day, this February on 4th,” they said
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