Man who lost his 11-year-old son to cancer donates lakhs to other needy families

Sampriti with her father Bidyut Roy

Biswajit Dadwal is grieving his 11-year-old son, who he lost to leukaemia last December. But that hasn't stopped him from extending help to other parents in need of money for their children's treatment - having raised Rs 5.5 lakh for Haardik Dadwal's treatment, the heart-broken father has been donating the money to families struggling to raise funds for their ailing kids.

So far, he has donated Rs 2 lakh to a crowdfunding website that has already helped three patients. He plans to donate the rest of it to the paediatric department of Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) and other parents.

Haardik Dadwal passed away last year

The good father
Biswajit donated Rs 50,000 for the treatment of 18-month-old Sampriti Roy, leukaemia patient admitted at Nanavati Hospital, who has to undergo chemotherapy sessions and take bone marrow injections daily. Doctors have quoted Rs 10 lakh as her treatment cost, which can go up to Rs 18 lakh, considering her condition.

Her father Bidyut, a Kolkata native working in Mumbai, said, "I can understand the pain he [Biswajit] is going through. I was so overwhelmed [when he donated], I couldn't stop my tears," said Bidyut.

"My wife and I understand the helplessness of parents; our son suffered for a year and a half. I am not a doctor, so I can't save these children's lives. But, in my son's memory, I can at least help their families monetarily," said Biswajit.

Welcome gesture
"Once they got over the intensely painful initial grieving period, Haardik's parents decided to help other children with leukaemia. He pledged to donate Rs 2 lakh to Impactguru and the rest personally to parents he knows and Tata Memorial Hospital. We sent him files of similar cases from our tie-up hospitals and he donated accordingly," said Piyush Jain, CEO and founder of Impactguru.

Talking to mid-day, Dr S D Banavali, head of the paediatric oncology department at TMH, welcomed Dadwals' gesture. "If he donates the money, we can use it for our IMPACT Foundation, which is meant for paediatric cancer patients. If anyone wants to donate to TMH, s/he should come directly to the hospital, as often in the name of charity, people fool others," he said.

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