Crowdfunding to the rescue for this cancer patient  

Cancer takes innumerable lives each year, and so does the unavailability of cancer treatment due to lack of funds. 33-year-old Nushafreen Palsetia, a software engineer based in Mumbai, was recently diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. Despite a relapse, what helped was life-saving support pouring from over 1,700 donors.

Nushafreen was first diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in April 2019. After a year of enduring aggressive treatment, she tried to get back to her normal life and work. Unfortunately, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), cancer relapsed in her liver in May 2020 which was an unexpected major shock, leaving her and all of her family overwhelmed.

Doctors planned to perform an autologous (her own stem cells) bone marrow transplant in India after the chemotherapy but further tests showed involvement of the bone marrow as well. Hence, her treating doctor recommended the modern CAR-T Cell therapy treatment, available only in the USA, UK, Israel, and a few European countries.

Nushafreen's family found Israel as the most affordable option as compared to all other countries offering the treatment. They reached out to Sheba Medical Centre in Israel which estimated the medical expenses as 200,000 USD (approximately Rs 1.5 crore). The treatment will require Nushafreen to be hospitalized for a month or more for the response to treatment and immediate follow up.

As Nushafreen's family couldn't afford the high medical expenses, an ImpactGuru crowdfunding campaign was initiated. In two weeks, Nushafreen's ImpactGuru.com Page has raised over Rs 1 crore from 1750 donors. The platform raises money online for medical expenses via crowdfunding such as cancer, transplants, and accidents.

According to the co-founder and CEO of the healthcare crowdfunding platform, Piyush Jain, "Crowdfunding is driven by a culture of generosity, it allows people to raise money quickly in a hassle free manner without any payback liability. This is a new record for our platform with a single patient's family being able to raise more than Rs 1 crore. We hope Nushafreen recovers soon and more patients come forward to utilize our platform in their time of need to get the best available treatment for critical illnesses."