Gaurav – Seeking Divine Help 07-Jan-09

Gaurav was admitted back to Hinduja hospital on 21-Jan due to fever and low blood counts (Neutropenia). Thankfully, his fever came under control shortly but counts are coming up gradually. This is an expected side effect of chemotherapy.

On the bone marrow donor search, the good news post the NMDP search, is that Gaurav has got 6 possible donors with 6/6 match and about 350 donors with 5/6 match. Now the doctors are progressing with a high resolution (10/10) match to finalize the donor. This search will take an additional 2 weeks. Once we find a 10/10 donor (or at least a 9/10 donor), Gaurav will have to proceed with the MUD transplant.

Depending on the money collected, we will then decide between getting him operated in the US (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NYC or Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle); total cost of operation – approx. INR 2.25Cr (US$ 500,000) or in Israel (Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv); total cost of operation – approx. INR 1.125Cr (US$ 250,000).

Another option is to get a half-match (haploid) transplant done using his elder sister’s marrow (half match only).

Net net, Gaurav will be undergoing the transplant in a matter of a few weeks now.

Given that time is of essence, we continue to look out for financial assistance from all. As of 25-Jan, our collections stand at INR 31L (approx US$ 69,000).

Lastly, following up on our last email blast, we would very much appreciate assistance from people in introducing us to contacts in the Media industry (Newspapers, TV channels, Radio, etc). This will help us broad base the “Save Gaurav” campaign; thereby spreading the word about Gaurav’s illness to a much larger audience and assisting us in our fund collection efforts.