A Brother in Need

I am reaching out to all of you on behalf of our brother and fellow member of the Sikh community, Maninder Singh, a young, previously healthy twenty four year old. Maninder left his family and home in Punjab in attempts to immigrate to the United States. He left with only one goal in mind, to support his parents and siblings back at home. He arrived with a heart full of hope determined to create a life for himself in the land of opportunities. Life, however, had different plans for him, and shortly after arriving Maninder became very ill. He ultimately required admission to the hospital under my care in Ohio. Testing revealed that Maninder was in acute kidney failure, and to further complicate the situation, Maninder was born with only one kidney. He has gone through extensive testing which has failed to identify the exact etiology of kidney failure. Irregardless of cause, Maninder has now become completely dialysis dependent. Dialysis three days a week, or a kidney transplant which is not a possibility in the near future, is the only option Maninder has for survival.

He was fortunately able to obtain health insurance in the state of New York and therefore was transferred to a hospital in Queens. Maninder has no family or support in the area and ultimately was discharged from the hospital to a community shelter as this was the only way for the hospital social workers to successfully arrange for housing and transport to dialysis. Maninder now has no choice but to stay in this shelter where he is sharing a small room with eight other individuals. He stands in line three times a day for a meal, and often times goes without eating as food may run out while he patiently awaits his turn.

Needless to say, this has been both mentally and physically exhausting for Maninder and his family. Dialysis is extremely taxing on the body, and this combined with improper nutrition and shelter, is a state of being that very few of us could possibly imagine. I am urging all of my brothers and sisters to please help Maninder by donating whatever amount you are able to spare so that we can help get him out of the shelter and provide him with basic needs so he can start his road towards recovery. Maninder’s parents are understandably helpless during this difficult time as they neither have the means nor the visa to come here. This is the least we can do to help them and their son. Please consider donating so we can support our brother through this extremely difficult time.