"When our mother passed away suddenly in 2020, everything changed. I was only 20 then, and my little brother was still in school. From that moment on, I stopped thinking of myself as just his sister. I started waking him up for class, helping him with homework, cooking when Baba couldn’t. I saw his first heartbreak, his first board exam, his first steps into college. And I stood by him through it all: not like a sibling, but like a second mother. He became my whole world. So when the doctors said he had blood cancer, it didn’t feel like I was losing a brother. It felt like I was about to lose my child." - Shruti, Arka's sister
 

It all started with strange symptoms

Blood clots under his skin, then a fever that wouldn’t go away. We went from clinic to clinic, doctor to doctor, until finally someone asked for a bone marrow biopsy. Two days later, they said the words we’ll never forget: acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood cancer. I felt like the ground disappeared beneath us. We did not tell him at first. But one day the doctor mentioned chemo and warned him about hair loss. Later, when we were alone, he looked at me and asked, “Do I have cancer?” I said yes. And he just... cried.

Before all this, he was doing really well 

It was his birthday in March. He had been excited about it for weeks. He’d even had plans to go out with a few friends from college. But instead of cutting cake, he was in the ICU. I still remember standing in the hospital corridor, staring at the date on my phone and thinking "How did we get here?" He was in a hospital bed, eyes closed, machines beeping all around him. I stood there, unable to cry, unable to think, just silently wishing him a happy birthday, over and over, like a prayer. He wanted to become a software engineer, go abroad, maybe do an MCA. He would watch videos, talk to our cousins, and ask endless questions about how to get there. Even when he was sick, he tried to go write an exam. He couldn’t sit through it, but he tried. That’s who he is: someone who doesn’t give up.

Right now, we’re spending lakhs of rupees every few weeks

Unexpected expenses keep coming up. The chemo, the hospital stays, tests, and cabs to and from the hospital every single day, it all adds up. My father is just a private tutor. He teaches children late into the night just so he can afford the next morning’s bills. I’m still in college myself. But every night, when my brother sleeps, I stay beside him. We check his temperature, hold his hand. He never complains. He always smiles, like he’s trying to protect us. But I know he’s in pain; bone pain, stomach pain, nausea. He barely eats and even standing up takes effort now. I keep thinking: if this is how hard it is with chemo, how will we manage the transplant?

I have less than a month to save him... otherwise I'll lose him like I lost my mother

That’s how long we have to arrange the money and get the bone marrow transplant done, just one month. My sample matched, and everything is ready except the funds. We’ve already spent lakhs, all borrowed or begged from relatives. But the BMT will cost tens of lakhs more. It’s an amount we can’t even imagine affording. My brother is just 19. He has his whole life ahead of him. Please, I’m begging you—help us give him that chance. Help us save him.