A brother’s battle to give his young sibling a fighting chance at life

Vikas Rai and his family has gone the distance for Vivek, from spending ₹1.75 crore to starting a crowdfunding campaign

Doing for family: (from left) Vikas Rai, his cousin, and brother Vivek.

For a year now, 35-year-old Vikas Rai has been fighting tooth and nail to ensure that there is enough money so that his younger brother Vivek, who met with an accident in November 2016, gets the proper treatment and is able to return to his healthy self.

“All our assets: home, car, gold, and advance payment from work place have been used up to ensure that we were able to clear the medical bills at the private hospitals that Vivek was admitted to. But all our resources have dried up now and we need public help to ensure that my 30-year-old brother has a fighting chance to get better for his three-year-old daughter,” said Vikas, who works in a private firm.

The middle-class family has already spent ₹1.75 crore on treatment so far. Vivek was discharged from the hospital about a week ago, and now his family needs at least ₹1.5 lakh a month for home care medical expenses alone.

Raised ₹5.5 lakh

Vikas has started a crowdfunding campaign with ImpactGuru.com, through which he has managed to raise ₹5.5 lakh so far. “But that isn’t enough,”' he said.

Vivek with his three-year-old daughter.

 

“My father and I are both working to ensure that the household stays afloat and the treatment continues without any road blocks. But we need help and we need it urgently,” adds Vikas.

“Every day we have to pay bills for medicines, therapy and special treatments, and now we are falling short financially as we have depleted all our savings. Doctors have told us that our brother will recover and that is the hope with which we are working,” he said.

Vivek met with an accident two days after Diwali, just two km away from his house in Faridabad. The accident resulted in paralysis.

Vivek has now regained 30% of his body-brain function but the family has been told that he may regain 90% function with proper treatment and therapy.

‘Will file case soon’

“The accident happened when Vivek’s bike had a collision with a car. He suffered severe injuries to his head. Nobody has been arrested yet, we were busy with the hospitals and medications, we will file a case soon,” he added.