SALEM: Following a news report carried by Express that a six-year-old girl is in need of funds to be cured of Thalassemia, money has begun pouring in.
So much so that 16,000 students from a private college collected Rs 12.5 lakh for the purpose and the cheque was handedover to the girl’s parents on Thursday.
The chairman of AVS and Sakthikailash institution, K Kailasam presented the cheque to the girl’s parents on behalf of the students.
Speaking to the media, secretary K Rajavinayakam said, “We came to know about her sad story through the media and we took it to the notice of our students. They collected a total of Rs 12.5 lakh from their parents, relatives, friends and well wishers in just two days. The girls’ school too has contributed Rs 10 lakh. Now the girl parents have Rs 22.5 lakh. All this became possible because of the media.”
“After Express carried news about my daughter’s condition we began getting a lot of support from many people. Now, we are confident of exceeding the target of Rs 30 lakh.
“Tomorrow, we would be visiting the Apollo Hospital to collect details about funds received by them for my daughter Nirali. We very thankful to the media especially Express,” a happy Atulkumar said after receiving the cheque.
Nirali (6), a second standard student of Jay Matriculation School and the second daughter of ice vendor Atulkumar Anantrai, a resident of Mohammed Pura near Kitchipalayam, was diagnosed with Thalassemia when she was barely six-months-old.
Since then, she has been getting blood transfusion every twenty days.
At one point, her parents were informed that stem cell transplantation would lead to a permanent cure.
As the treatment cost was estimated to be Rs 30 lakh, Nirali’s parents sought the help of her school administration, which collected Rs 10 lakh from students and by pasting posters on notice boards and vehicles.
Subsequently, others too started chipping in with their contributions.