3 Continents, 3 Disciplines, 3 People – to save a life

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Updates (3)

My friend, Emmanuel Mallepogu suffered from total kidney failure last year July. Since then, he is on dialysis, but losing strength. He needs a kidney transplant.

He and his family do not have the means to pay for this. Just to get on the list to be considered for it, he has to put down 4 lakh Indian rupees which is equal to ZAR 80,000 or USD 6,000. In order to get the surgery, he has to pay a total of15 lakh. This includes about 11 lakh of hospital and doctor's fees and 4 lakh for food, accommodation, dialysis, transport and other daily needs in Vellore where they do not have a home. (They are living in Vellore for the time being until the surgery can happen)

He is only 44 years old. He is married to Shilpa and has two teenage sons. He has been and still is a helper and an encourager of many. He has such a humble and gentle spirit and is still full of hope. The reality is that he is desperately ill.

So three of us decided that we cannot just sit still and do nothing so this is the plan: I will run 70 kilometres here in India, Nicolai, my brother, will ride his mountain bike 210 kilometres in South Africa and Marie Bosman will swim 7 kilometres in the US on the 3rd of December 2016. Through this we hope to raise some funds and we are asking you to get involved.

You can give my clicking on "Donate Now" on this page. You can share this cause with others. You can run/bike/swim with us and encourage others to do the same. You could be a sponsor and get some marketing mileage for your brand. You could pray for Emmanuel and also for us. We put our trust in Jesus Christ.

I am Stephan van der Merwe, a South African citizen who have been in India for 14 years together with my family. I work for a software development company Global Pueblo Sourcing as CTO. Emmanuel's brother, Jaison, is an ex-colleague of mine. All three of us have been going to the same church for many years. My kids and Emmanuel's kids grew up together.

See the letter from the hospital below:

Ask for an update

15th December 2016

We recently paid most of the money received here over to Emmanuel's hospital account. As you know he needs 4 lakh to be able to be on the active list to be considered for a transplant. He has enough now for that, but there are various tests that he has to go through to make sure he is ready for the surgery. We are praying that all those tests will indicate that he is ready.

After this initial hurdle, he still needs about 10 lakh more.

Here is the response from Emmanuel himself to this fundraising effort:
"Bro, first of all, I am so thankful to you because of me; you and your team struggled a lot. I saw your video's I don't know how could I say my thanks to you but one thing I could say that you are loving God.

"I am so thankful to you those who supported me from Africa and USA and India. Still, investigations are going on. In a week three times dialysis are going on. So far God is so faithful to me. Today I am like this because of all your prayers only I am alive with Jesus.