Ketto.org is a crowdfunding platform born out of an unlikely partnership between three Mumbaikars Varun Sheth, Zaheer Adenwala & actor Kunal Kapoor.

Ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, crowdfunding has seen a huge boom & Ketto has been at the forefront of it all. Anyone can use the platform to help pay for unaffordable healthcare bills or to help support any NGOs or charitable efforts.

Ketto has also played host to a number of campaigns focusing on issues such as rehabilitation of traumatized women, disaster relief funding, and providing shelter to the elderly who had been abandoned by their families.

The platform has hosted 2 Lakh+ fundraisers, with a network of over 55 Lakh donors, and has helped raise over Rs 1,100 crores since its inception in 2012.

One of these fundraisers is the story of Pujitha and her fight to save her newborn baby.

The family hails from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. Pujitha’s husband Bala Krishna works as a private tutor to support his family’s expenses. He didn’t earn much, but the family lived happily still. However, in June of 2021, their lives were turned upside down as their young son was diagnosed with life-threatening cancer.

Below is the story from Pujitha’s perspective: -

My 2-year-old son is the bravest person I know. If you met us now, you would be in awe of the fact that I’m a heartbroken mess and he’s a little fighter.

But can anybody blame me? I’m watching my baby lose a little more every day. I’m watching him suffer round after round of chemotherapy. Can anybody blame me for being a mess when my son is struggling to beat high-risk blood cancer?

The day our lives changed.

My son developed a fever that persisted for days. He looked extremely weak and we noticed there was swelling in his lymph nodes. My husband Bala Krishna and I were worried, we’d never seen him so ill before.

We took him to the doctor, they didn’t seem too concerned at first. Initial tests revealed that his platelet and haemoglobin counts were low. This sounded bad to us but the doctors seemed sure a few blood transfusions would solve the problem.

They were wrong!

When his condition didn’t improve, they ran more tests. I could tell the doctors were now very, very worried.

“I’m sorry, Pujitha ji. Your son has ‘high risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia’ - blood cancer. The treatment for this will involve chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. We need to start as early as possible, to give your son the best chance of beating this.”

Cancer. In a 2-year-old boy. In MY two-year-old son. I collapsed to the floor, unable to breathe.

My husband picked me up off the floor to comfort me and convinced me to remain positive that the doctors would cure him.

Unfortunately, the chemotherapy and transplant that my son needs to fully beat this cancer will cost us Rs 15 lakh.

My husband and I have not had a particularly easy life. He is a good man but we’ve always struggled financially. Normally, I would not talk about this, I have so much to be grateful for. But right now, despite selling our valuables and borrowing from family, we are unable to cover the full cost of his treatment. Homeless and unemployed in a new city, we have hit a dead end. The longer we wait, the worse it gets for our son.

Rs 15 lakh is a painfully large amount for us.

“I’m not too proud to beg if that means I can save my son’s life. Please, please help us. He’s the light of my life”

Please consider donating to help Pujitha save her son. Their family is really struggling, desperate to afford the treatment he needs. Every contribution matter and every bit will be used to pay for his treatment.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW

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