Cancer has become a topic of dinner table discussion around the world. The disease in its various forms claimed millions of lives across the globe in 2017, with high incidence of lung, stomach and blood cancer in developing nations, including India. 4.1% of all cancer deaths in India last year were because of leukemia. We can trace reasons for this astounding number back to the fact that many cases of leukemia in India were not diagnosed or treated early enough.
Causes and symptoms of leukemia
There are reasons why early diagnosis of leukemia is often not possible. Telltale symptoms, which include fever and chills, persistent body ache and fatigue, itchiness, severe weight loss, contracting infections easily for weeks and taking longer than usual to fight them off, nosebleeds, reddish rashes or spots, and tenderness of the bones or muscles can often be confused with the signs of developing a bad case of influenza. Most patients do not begin to take cognizance of these symptoms until the disease has progressed into the second stage. Taking preventive action to ward off leukemia is also difficult, since the exact cause for it has not yet been nailed by medical researchers, who think that a mix of genetic and environmental factors interact to cause the cancer.
Treatments
Treatments for leukemia include chemotherapy, and if the cancer tends to relapse and white blood cell and platelet counts do not stabilize after a recommended set of chemotherapy treatments, doctors suggest bone marrow transplants as the best chance at lasting cure. These treatments are prohibitively expensive for the middle-class Indian family, let alone the rural poor, but diseases do not discriminate across classes. A bone marrow transplant, once a stem cell match has been found for the patient, may cost up to thirty lakh rupees, including the cost of postoperative palliative care and drugs.
How crowdfunding helps
With most Indians living without health insurance and with limited access to medical loans, which take time to come through and have exclusive eligibility criteria, many families find themselves in a position of great financial discomfort when their loved one’s leukemia is to be treated adequately. For these people, crowdfunding for blood cancer has come out as an easy and effective solution. Crowdfunding allows those in need to ask for help with funds on crowdfunding platforms like Impact Guru. Donors make gifts online to the project and many success stories have been written with compassionate givers raising giant amounts of money to help children and adults with leukemia in India.
Raise funds online for your friend or relative’s bone marrow transplant. Start a fundraiser today.
