From Cancer to Computer Science: Send Sambhav to University!

Dear Family, Friends and Caring Strangers!

The miraculous story of Sambhav CONTINUES thanks to the support of so many back in 2015 when we made the impossible possible and fundraised for a successful bone marrow transplant! At that time, Sambhav was just 12 years old and battling a rare cancer. He is now 21 and has been accepted to university in London, but he needs our support!

With the costs of life-long post-transplant medication and healthcare requirements, his family has not been able to save for a college fund. We are reaching out again to ask for support of this exceptional young man, who never lost his passion for learning and his positive spirit in the face of the unimaginable. Please help him achieve his dream of going to university! Help us reach our goal to cover Sambhav's tuition.

Remember--before his leukemia diagnosis, Sambhav took home the gold medal in the 2014 nation-wide science competition in Nepal! He LOVES to learn! After his bone marrow transplant, he returned to Nepal and completed high school. He then began a bachelors degree program at university in Nepal but he was not satisfied with the education there. He wanted to go to university in the UK. He completed applications, passed all the interviews and left Nepal in September to begin studying computer science and design at the University of Hertfordshire in London. Sambhav is staying with a supportive roommate and his parents are managing to pay for his first year's tuition and his living expenses but we are hoping to get help from everyone near and far for his future years of tuition. During his third year of study, he will be allowed a work permit so his parents hope they can manage more of the costs together with him from then on, but we really need help now for next year.

He is the same kid who you helped to fight cancer when he was 12 and now we ask for help again to make his dreams come true and raise funds for him to complete college!

THANK YOU!

About the Organizer:

My name is Amity. Pavitra's family and I set up this fundraiser for Pavitra’s son. I have known Pavitra for 34 years, since we were 19 and 20 years old and I lived with her amazing family as my host family while studying abroad. We have remained “sisters” separated by geography but never far away in our hearts. I have always been inspired by her generosity, curiosity and fun-loving spirit, and she and her husband have raised two wonderful boys. Who knew that one day, their older boy would save the life of his younger brother by donating his bone marrow?! The only way the family was able to afford the transplant was thanks to this fundraiser and we hope to support them again! You can be confident that 100% of the money will be spent on Sambhav's college expenses. Thank you for considering! Also, please share with and encourage others in your circles to give!!!! Thank you! --Amity Sandage

ARCHIVE OF SAMBHAV'S TRANSPLANT STORY:

2015 GoFundMe Fundraiser: Life Saving Transplant for Sambhav!

Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/SupportSambhav

313 donations that paid for a successful bone marrow translpant!

Thank you for helping give Sambhav a Life-Saving Bone Marrow Transplant!

In 2015 we reached our fundraising goal to save the life of Pavitra and Shankar’s sweet boy in his battle against a rare form of Leukemia. He was 12 years old at that time. We would never have been able to fund the transplant without the kindness and generosity of all of you and we are so thankful!

About Sambhav, Pavitra and Shankar’s son:

‘Sambhav’ literally means, “possible.” He is rarely without a smile, particularly when he is talking about science. When he isn’t lecturing about the solar system, he goes on about his future career as a marine biologist, though he has never seen the ocean. Once he is well, he is determined to get to the Andaman Sea and discover the marine life of the Nicobar Islands. He wants to add the sea creatures into the notebook he started from his hospital bed. Sambhav took home the gold medal in the 2014 nation-wide science competition in Nepal.

SAMBHAV'S STORY

In 2015, Sambhav had been admitted to the hospital in Kathmandu just hours before the 7.8 - magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25th. Too weak to walk, his teenage brother carried him out of the devastated hospital. Fearing the building’s collapse, no one was allowed back in. Nepal was in ruins.

Nearly three days and 100 aftershocks later, Sambhav was sleeping outside in the rain with a 103-degree fever. The damaged hospitals were flooded with thousands of earthquake victims, but Sambhav’s family managed to get him re-admitted--only to hear that their son's diagnosis was leukemia and that there was no treatment for him in Nepal. Somehow they would have to get him to India, the next nearest medical center.

The next day, they managed to get Sambhav to Delhi and went straight to the emergency room. In spite of Sambhav’s climbing fever and critical diagnosis, the hospitals told his mother they were too overcrowded to accept her son. In sweltering conditions, Sambhav’s mother and uncle took shifts through the night applying cool compresses in hopes of bringing down his fever.

The next morning they brought Sambhav to Rajiv Gandhi Hospital and he was finally accepted into their Cancer Institute and immediately admitted. This was exactly the right place for him--with a specialty in cancer and a well established pediatric program, Sambhav finally could start receiving treatment. They soon discovered, however, that he had a form of cancer very rare in children, called Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Blast Crisis Phase 3. Only a bone marrow transplant could provide a cure. He was ready for it--amazingly his brother was a perfect donor match. They just needed help with the cost!

WHAT OUR COMMUNITY DID FOR HIM:

Sambhav's parents traveled from Nepal to Delhi to find talented, dedicated doctors and were told he had one chance to have a long, healthy life: a bone marrow transplant was the only possible cure - without it his chance for survival was 4-5%. The cost of the transplant in India was lower compared to U.S. health care costs, but the average income in Nepal was just $694 per year! For Sambhav’s family, the transplant cost was astronomical and completely unreachable. That’s when you made a miracle happen with your donations!

HOW THE TRANSPLANT STORY ENDED:

Update September 23rd, 2016 by Amity Sandage, Organizer

Today is the anniversary of Sambhav's transplant and Sambhav is one happy kid! Thank you all for giving your hearts, your prayers, your funds, and your support--without it, we would have lost him and we would never have seen the amazing things he is going to do in this life. I just know he is going to make the world a better place!

Update April 9th, 2016 by Amity Sandage, Organizer

Dear friends, Here's some great news for you: Sambhav is officially back in school! He is so happy to be able to take this wonderful step. As you all know, he has always LOVED learning and been an excellent student, so missing school was very hard for him. I am so thrilled for him and so happy to be able to share this news of how well he is doing. Thank you again for helping this miracle happen!

Update December 17th, 2015 by Amity Sandage, Organizer

I've been waiting impatiently to post this update. After more than 7 months in treatment in Delhi, Sambhav is home in Nepal! The transplant has been a success! Sambhav's blood counts are all normal!

This boy has amazed his doctors--in spite of the incredibly harsh effects of chemo and the bone marrow transplant, they never had to stop his treatment to give him a break. According to the hospital, this was very helpful in the fight against the cancer--and it is also very rare for children to be able to tolerate this treatment as he did. They attribute it to his amazing will power. I've seen it. He is STUBBORN--but in the best way! Like he hates beets, but because his iron levels were low, he told Pavitra to make beets for him every day for a week until his next blood draw. And I am sure you can imagine that beets are nothing compared to what he had to go through.

And I also attribute his success to his amazing mother. Pavitra has summoned extraordinary strength and focused all her amazing capabilities on learning EVERYTHING about his medicines, diet, blood tests, schedule, etc. so she could give him the best care possible. Her brain must be about to explode with all she is managing.

I am so grateful that I was able to go to Delhi in late November to spend time with Sambhav, Pavitra and Sanskrit. We watched his hair begin to grow back, his energy return. We played tournaments of Connect Four, during which Sambhav certainly did not seem sick! He was a force to be reckoned with.

It was a joy to help them pack and prepare for the trip back home. I celebrated the best Thanksgiving EVER! And Pavitra asked me to tell all of you that she is so, so, so, so thankful--that the words just don't exist to express it. Can you imagine?

I'll keep you updated as they settle back at home. We are sure there will still be some hurdles, but for now, let's just celebrate.

UPDATE: November 16th, 2015 by Amity Sandage, Organizer

The bone marrow transplant took place almost two months ago, and Sambhav has been fighting through infections and never losing heart. And now we finally have some great news to share! Sambhav had a test for chimerism--this is done after a stem cell transplant and involves identifying the genetic profiles of the recipient and of the donor and then evaluating the extent of mixture in the recipient's blood, bone marrow, or other tissue. The result that indicates a successful transplant is more than 90% donor cells. Sambhav's test came back 95.5% donor cells!!! This is the best news we have had so far and indicates a successful transplant! Pavitra sends her heartfelt gratitude for all of the prayers and positive energy people have been sending these past months. It seems to be working! Sending love and gratitude to you all for making this happen.