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Story #13 of 50 days, 50 Stories Campaign
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Answering unknown numbers always makes my heart flutter – as I don’t know what I would hear. One fine morning, I received a call from Shashank Gupta and he made me smile 😊. He said “my mother’s Blood Stem Cell Transplant was done in 2019, and now she and we are eager to meet the donor.” Such good news, I jumped in joy and instantly said “Yes !”, I told Shashank that I would need to check the details and would call him back.
My search for the details of this donation lead me to an interesting person – The donor was a young kind hearted brave girl – AKR. I next checked with the treating doctor, Dr. Sameer and received his approval. Mrs. Gupta’s check-ups were going on, and she wanted to meet the donor.
After checking all the required details from the history of this donation, we contacted donor -AKR – Apeksha Kumar Rudhani, to check her willingness to meet the recipient. She was thrilled to hear that her receipient was doing well but, at the same time, she hesitated. I thought young and vibrant Apeksha would be more than happy to meet the recipient, but to my shock she said – No.
I could not believe my ears and asked her why she was not willing to meet her receipient, but Apeksha just said not now. I was very unhappy and discussed this case with the coordinator, Dev, who had handled this collection. Dev also spoke to Apeksha and we got the same answer – Dev was also disheartened, but we were both stumped as we could not understand why Apeksha was not willing. So we decided to make one last attempt each – Dev contacted Apeksha’s friend who had supported her during the collection and I called Apeksha one last time to understand her reason.
When I called Apeksha, I explained how eager the recipient and her family were to meet Apeksha and also asked her why she was hesitating ? Apeksha said she that she was frightened to go out in public due to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not want to go to crowded places. The mystery was solved ! I happily informed Apeksha that we were planning an E-Meet or a virtual meet. She smiled and agreed that she was also looking forward to meet the recipient. She signed the consent form and eagerly asked when the e-meet would happen ?
We had also received the consent form from Mr. Shashank and we went ahead and planned the same.
The next step was to find a time slot as per the availability of the doctor, recipient, and donor. I called Dr. Sameer for his availability for the meet, and to my dismay, he informed me that Mrs. Anita is no more and had succumbed to salvage chemo just two weeks ago. I felt devastated.
From a happy outcome, I now had to inform Apeksha of the death of Mrs. Anita and I told Dr. Sameer, “I am sorry to hear this, and we will call off the Donor Recipient Meet.” He replied, “no, no, don’t call off the meet but postpone it. Mrs. Gupta’s family wanted to meet the donor to express their gratitude towards the donor.”
After few weeks, Mr. Shashank called me again and asked if we could arrange the meet. I called Dr. Sameer to check for his availability and arranged the Donor Recipient Meet(DRM) as per everyone’s availability. I informed Apeksha about the sad news of the demise of the recipient and the wish of the recipients’ family. She readily agreed to meet them without any hesitation.
Finally, the Donor Recipient Meet, or in this case, it was Donor Recipient’s family Meet happened on 12-May-2021. Mr. Shashank Gupta, his brother & his father joined the call. Apeksha was already there in the video call to greet us all and her best friend too.
Yes, her best friend had supported Apeksha throughout the donation process. Both of them shared their experience and how the donation had changed their thought process. . The Gupta family expressed their gratitude & said most grateful words towards Apeksha with numb eyes. I was full of contentment to arrange this DRM so was Apeksha. Mr. Gupta said he had gained a daughter while Shashank and his brother had gained a sister. They were grateful for giving a 2nd chance to their mother and we were all sure that somewhere Mrs. Gupta was also happy for her family and blood-daughter to meet.
If you are impressed by this Donor Recipient Meet and want to give a second chance to the needy, Please register with DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry today.
DATRI is registered with the Government of India as a Section 8 organization, and all monetary contributions towards DATRI are subject to 80G exemptions
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About the Author:
Sanika Deshmukh is a follow-up associate in DATRI Blood Stem Donor Registry, she is completed her MBA in Human Resources & Healthcare Management. She is very energetic and passionate about her work. She strives to bring positivity in the life in and around her..