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Story #10 of 50 days, 50 Stories Campaign
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It was January 2009 when DATRI conducted its first blood stem cell donor registration drive at iFlex Finance Corporation Ltd., Mumbai. My husband, Gaurav, diagnosed with AML (Nov 2008), looked for an unrelated matched bone marrow/blood stem cell donor for his transplant. After getting to know the difficulty in finding an unrelated matched blood stem cell donor in India, I registered myself with DATRI at iFlex during the donor registration drive. Also, I was a proud faculty whose 472 students at Thakur College of Engineering & Technology, Kandivali(E), Mumbai (Feb 2009) registered with DATRI hoping that anyone may become a match for my husband without knowing anything about how the donation will happen.

I still remember when Raghu was there at the institute from 11 am till 5 pm, and some of my students volunteered with him. My husband did not find any match in India, but luckily he found a donor in Italy. He underwent a blood stem cell transplant in October 2009. Since then, both of us are huge supporters of DATRI. 

In October 2019, when my husband finished ten years of his transplant, I joined DATRI in Chandigarh. Since then, our son, Amay, kept asking me to register himself with DATRI as a voluntary blood stem cell donor. I had to hold him until he was 18 years old. As soon as he became 18 years old, the first thing he did was blood donation. Then he asked me to register m as a blood stem cell donor too. So, on June 30, 2021, his registration with DATRI was done. He made a paid donation from his pocket money.

So, after being a proud faculty, today I am a proud parent, and so is my husband. We are proud of our son that he not only registered with DATRI but paid for the registration from his own pocket money.

So, I want to say one thing that when we ask everyone else to register as a voluntary blood stem cell donor, one must see that am I convinced enough of DATRI’s cause? Have I and eligible family members registered with DATRI? This reminds me of a small story. Once a mother went to Gandhi Ji and complained about her son that he eats lots of jaggeries. No matter what she does, i.e., right from explaining to threatening him, he won’t stop. So, Gandhi Ji told her to come with her son after four days. After four days, when she went, Gandhi Ji asked that boy to stop eating jaggery. The lady wondered if this is what Gandhi Ji had to say, then why did he ask her to come after four days? Gandhi Ji explained how I could say STOP EATING JAGGERY to a small boy while I can’t stop eating it myself. So, I didn’t eat jaggery for four days, and now today, I asked the boy NOT TO EAT. 

So until I am convinced about the cause, and my family, including me, is a registered donor with DATRI, how can I expect others to do so? It all begins with us Would you please ensure that all eligible members of your family and you are registered with DATRI? It’s not only all about convincing ourselves or doing it for convincing others. It is satisfying also.

DATRI is a Not-for-Profit organization that was founded in 2009 with a mission to save lives of those suffering from life-threatening fatal blood disorders like Blood Cancer, Thalassemia, Leukaemia, Aplastic Anaemia, Sickle Cell Anaemia, etc

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:

Anuradha Tandon holds an M. Tech. degree in Control & Automation Engineering. She has total 12 years of teaching experience in various universities across India. ”. After 12 years of fulfilling teaching career, she wanted to give it back to the society. So, she decided to join DATRI in November 2019, having gone through the pain of finding a donor for a family member. She holds a role as a Senior Associate – Partnerships and Medical Affairs.