K L Rahul's compassion will all but melt hearts.
Rahul donated ₹31 lakh (Rs 3.1 million) to help facilitate a successful bone marrow transplant for 11-year-old Varad Nalawade, helping him recover from aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder.
Since September 2021, Varad, a schoolboy from Mumbai, who aspires to don an India cricket jersey, had been under the care of haematologists at Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital .
Varad's blood platelet levels were very low, making his immune system extremely susceptible to infections. A bone marrow transplant was the only permanent cure for his condition.
A middle-class family, Varad's parents Sachin Nalawade, an insurance agent, and homemaker Swapna Jha, had run out of funds, with his father liquidating his provident fund savings to pay for Varad's mounting medical bills to keep his son's dreams of becoming a cricketer alive. Sachin even bought his son a cricket bat for his 11th birthday to cheer him up.
In December 2021, the parents started a fundraising campaign on GiveIndia to raise ₹35 lakh needed to pay for their son's treatment.
Thanks to Rahul's financial help, Varad was operated upon, and is now recovering from surgery.
'We are thankful to K L Rahul for donating such a large amount for Varad's surgery,' Varad's mother Swapna said. 'But for him, it would have been impossible to carry out the bone marrow transplant in such a short period of time. Thank you, Rahul.'
