It is only human to live with security in the knowledge that negative, untoward things only happen to other people and other families. This results in great levels of unpreparedness when a family has to deal with the sudden onslaught of a major illness or an accident that confines one of them to bed, or even a combination of these things. The lack of preparation to address these unfortunate circumstances head on is not of a purely psychological nature, but is often connected to the family’s lack of financial muscle to combat the spell of sickness and injury, because the majority of Indian families have no health coverage and not enough savings set aside to bear the costs of the best treatments at a good hospital and follow up with adequate postoperative care with the right medicine and nutrients, and sometimes even therapy.
Satya Prakash Pathak has recently gone through a car accident and his family, of his wife and a small child, has found themselves in this exact situation. The accident has broken Satya’s spine in three places and he has also contracted a chest infection which has spread to his urinary bladder. He is in unbearable pain, unable to sit up and talk from his hospital bed. Doctors who are looking after him have estimated that to return to the normal life of an adult man, it will take months and treatment expenses running to at least five lakh rupees. Satya Prakash’s family, which is a single income unit, does not have these funds, so they have started an online medical crowdfunding campaign on Impact Guru, India’s largest crowdfunding platform, to help raise the funds they need.
Satya’s friend Yogesh, from Kalyan, Mumbai is standing by the distraught family as a true friend should. In fact, it was Yogesh who came up with the idea of online crowdfunding to help raise Satya’s treatment. This is working out very positively for the Pathak family, who have assiduously shared their fundraiser (with Satya’s pictures and a strong fundraiser story which Yogesh also populated with photographs of Satya’s medical paperwork; this is a crowdfunding best practice and adds a sense of urgency and authenticity to the campaign). Donations have started coming in, and crowdfunding India continues to save the day for hundreds of victims of accident injuries and other medical issues.
