Anonymous donor pays ₹11.6 cr for child’s treatment for rare genetic disorder

Sarang Menon and Aditi Nair, the child’s parents who are from Kerala’s Palakkad but based in Mumbai, thanked the contributor for keeping their hopes alive

An anonymous donor donated ₹11.6 crore to a Kerala family through the crowd-funding platform Milaap for the treatment of their 15-month-old child diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disorder characterised by weakness of muscles used for movement.

The couple opted for crowd-funding as ₹17.5 crore needed for the treatment was beyond their means. (Twitter)

The donor made the contribution on the condition of anonymity. Sarang Menon and Aditi Nair, the child’s parents who are from Kerala’s Palakkad but based in Mumbai, thanked the contributor for keeping their hopes alive. They said they now need only ₹80 lakh to meet the treatment expenses.

The couple opted for crowd-funding as ₹17.5 crore needed for the treatment was beyond their means. They met state minister Veena George and Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman to seek GST exemption on imported medicines for their child.

Malayalam actor Aahana Krishna made an appeal for donations via Instagram. “Kindly take five minutes. If 17 lakh of you donate ₹100 each, that is ₹17 crore. It is very much possible,” she wrote in her post.

A spokesperson for Milaap said they managed over ₹15 crore from 56,000 contributors and this includes the share of ₹11.6 crore from the anonymous contributor.