Dr. Didgooder

This is a follow up to my earlier post. A close friend of mine responded to the call for blood donors. Here is what he had to say about it:

Hi Sachin,

Just wanted to let you and your friends know that I met the
parents and gave blood. As of now I think they have good number of
IOUs from the blood bank. Manish was mentioning was that he needs
a couple of IOUs for A+ platelets, so if I knew anyone who was A+
then i should contact them.

I also spoke to Mahish and Shweta as well for about 15 minutes.
The situation is very heart-rendering and brought tears to my
eyes.
Shweta is the pillar of strength, was cheerful and smiling while
speaking to Om. Om likes Spiderman and doesn't like coming to
hospitals.
Mansih's mom also spoke a few words.
Manish told me that they had lost his dad some 15 days back. His
dad was in the army and very strong in life. And very attached to
Om and very affected by the news (revealed to them on August 7th).
Manish courageously mentioned that his dad's blessings were with
them now and hopefully things will improve.

The Tata Memorial (cancer) Hospital's doctors have said that this
99% curable and from what i have read from your link seems to say
that the child will be fine. I pray so.

This is a very courageous family; this sort of test seems
unimaginable and seems to shake one's faith.

I urge our community and whoever knows them to express their
friendship and support in whatever way possible. A card,gift -
spiderman would be a good gift - the parents must not feel
alone.

Thanks for letting me know of this and allowing me to make a
contribution.

Regards
Santanu

And hence the world spins around.

Dr. Dogooder

This week, I received a request from a couple of associates. It was for locating help for a 5 year old boy who was suffering from Leukemia and was in need of blood donors. I am in Chicago and this boy is in Mumbai, so I could not have donated (could I have?). However, I did forward on the message to others who were in a better position than me to help out. The boy has help now but you never know when he may need more help. If you read this blog, please do call the parents of this boy (ask me for the phone number). Here is the message to my friends, associates and the readers of this blog:

Friends and Associates,

Time to time, life puts all of us through different tests. Some of us pass tests with flying colors and others don't. These tests come in various shapes and sizes and never come with a warning. Some tests are easy and others painful and hard. One family in my extended friend circle is going through one such tough test. This family is in Mumbai and their 5 yr old child is admitted at the TATA hospital in Parel with Leukemia. For the few (like me) who did not know, leukemia is a cancer of blood in which the bone marrow produces excessive and defective white blood cells which then inhibit many other functions of the blood stream. I found lot more info here: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/cancer/cancer_leukemia.html.

Sitting in Chicago, I cannot do much else but pass this message to all of you. If you are connected to Mumbai please heed this family's request for locating blood donors. You could also pass this request to other equally committed folks who may be willing to help out.

The contact number for the parents of this 5 yr old child is ... and the names are Boblu and Shweta. The child's name is Om. The parents are currently based out of Santa Cruz and the hospital in Parel.

Please do what you can. Do not hesitate to write back to me if you have questions or cannot reach Boblu and Shweta on the phone number above.

Thanks,
Sachin

And hence, ob-la-di, Ob-la-da.