Mumbai: A braveheart is in urgent need of assistance. Mohit Dalvi, 18, who won a national bravery award in 2016 for saving a 10-year-old girl from drowning in the Banganga Tank at Walkeshwar, is now running from pillar to post to raise Rs 28 lakh for the treatment of his brother who is fighting against a rare disease. His brother Rupesh suffers from aplastic anaemia, a condition in which the bone marrow stops producing new blood cells.
After losing both his parents to tuberculosis years ago, Rupesh is the only family he has. To obtain a bone marrow transplant for Rupesh, Mohit must raise Rs 28 lakh. They have approach-ed several trusts for help and managed to collect around Rs12 lakh, but are still short.
“My brother began working after we lost our parents and he is the only breadwinner, taking care of me and my education. But now, he is so weak, he cannot even stand on his feet. If he does not get a bone marrow transplant immediately, I will lose him too,” says Mohit. He further added his brother needs a blood transfusion every 15 days, for which he and a friend of Rupesh take him to the government-run Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy hospital.
“I work as an operator in a travel agency, which helps me feed and pay for my brother’s education. But I simply cannot afford the transplant. It really pains me to see him run from pillar to post like this,” said Rupesh. Mohit Dalvi, 18, was among the four boys selected for the children’s bravery award in 2016. As a 15-year-old, Mohit, true to his name, won lakhs of hearts when he jumped into the Banganga tank to save Krishna Pashtye in April 2015.