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My name is Sugreev Rajpal, I live in Toronto, and I’m creating this fundraiser to support my sister, Damayanti Mehra, in her battle with cancer. Damayanti is 45, lives in Delhi, India, with her husband and a 12 years old son.
In 2017, Damayanti was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy and was cured that year. We were all relieved that she has won the battle and can go back to live her normal life. Unfortunately, we were mistaken. Her cancer metastasized and impacted her spinal cord in 2020.
This time, radiation and hormonal therapy was recommended for treatment, as tumors were considered inoperable and surgery was risky. She has undergone radiation therapy in October of 2020. Her doctor has prescribed Abemaciclib drug as part of hormonal therapy, that she needs to take for the rest of her life to keep the cancer cells in control and stopping them from dividing and growing. This treatment needs to start end of January 2021.
Abemaciclib is a very expensive drug, and is not covered by health insurance providers, certainly not hers. It will cost approximately $1800 CAD monthly overall out-of-pocket, abemaciclib itself costs around $1650 CAD. This is unaffordable for a middle-class family on a monthly basis, even from Canadian standards. There are other household expenses on top of this, and she is not able to work full time now because of her situation, and Covid19 impact.
Damayanti is a strong person and a fighter, works as an auditor, and has been a great mother, wife, sister, daughter, and a friend to many. She has emerged a winner in her fight with cancer in 2017, and from spinal tuberculosis earlier as well. This time, she is physically much weaker now, but remains defiant in the face of constant onslaught of deadly diseases in our family. My father died of Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) in 1993, and mother did not survive the metastatic breast cancer that spread to her brain in 2013.
Her funding situation is severely constrained because of money spent over the years on her and my mother’s treatments. I’m helping to the best of my ability, but that’s not enough, as expenses are way over our budgets. I must be prepared myself for the eventuality I get inflicted, which is not unlikely given the history of cancer in our family.
Damayanti is the type of person who would want to do everything herself, to not inconvenience others and add to others’ burdens. After much deliberation, I have decided to create this campaign on GoFundMe in hopes to cover Damayanti’s medical expenses for one year to start with, while we explore other patient assistance options from the company that makes this drug. I will share that update in the future and update the goal accordingly.
We will be forever grateful to you for your support and generosity (every bit helps), and thank you for taking the time to read through Damayanti’s story!
In 2017, Damayanti was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy and was cured that year. We were all relieved that she has won the battle and can go back to live her normal life. Unfortunately, we were mistaken. Her cancer metastasized and impacted her spinal cord in 2020.
This time, radiation and hormonal therapy was recommended for treatment, as tumors were considered inoperable and surgery was risky. She has undergone radiation therapy in October of 2020. Her doctor has prescribed Abemaciclib drug as part of hormonal therapy, that she needs to take for the rest of her life to keep the cancer cells in control and stopping them from dividing and growing. This treatment needs to start end of January 2021.
Abemaciclib is a very expensive drug, and is not covered by health insurance providers, certainly not hers. It will cost approximately $1800 CAD monthly overall out-of-pocket, abemaciclib itself costs around $1650 CAD. This is unaffordable for a middle-class family on a monthly basis, even from Canadian standards. There are other household expenses on top of this, and she is not able to work full time now because of her situation, and Covid19 impact.
Damayanti is a strong person and a fighter, works as an auditor, and has been a great mother, wife, sister, daughter, and a friend to many. She has emerged a winner in her fight with cancer in 2017, and from spinal tuberculosis earlier as well. This time, she is physically much weaker now, but remains defiant in the face of constant onslaught of deadly diseases in our family. My father died of Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) in 1993, and mother did not survive the metastatic breast cancer that spread to her brain in 2013.
Her funding situation is severely constrained because of money spent over the years on her and my mother’s treatments. I’m helping to the best of my ability, but that’s not enough, as expenses are way over our budgets. I must be prepared myself for the eventuality I get inflicted, which is not unlikely given the history of cancer in our family.Damayanti is the type of person who would want to do everything herself, to not inconvenience others and add to others’ burdens. After much deliberation, I have decided to create this campaign on GoFundMe in hopes to cover Damayanti’s medical expenses for one year to start with, while we explore other patient assistance options from the company that makes this drug. I will share that update in the future and update the goal accordingly.
We will be forever grateful to you for your support and generosity (every bit helps), and thank you for taking the time to read through Damayanti’s story!