Bengaluru,  In a heart-warming gesture, Indian opener KL Rahul has come to the rescue of an 11-year-old budding cricketer, needing an urgent bone marrow transplant (BMT) to treat a rare blood disorder.

Since September 2021, Varad, a schoolboy from Mumbai, who aspires to don an India cricket jersey, had been under the care of hematologists at Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital. In December, Varad's parents Sachin Nalawade, an insurance agent, and homemaker Swapna Jha, started a fundraising campaign on GiveIndia to raise Rs 35 lakh they needed to pay for their son's treatment.

Rahul's team got in touch with them as soon as they came to know about Varad. Rahul donated a generous Rs 31 lakh of the 35 lakh required for the procedure. Varad was operated upon, and he is now recuperating.

"When I came to know about Varad's condition, my team got in touch with GiveIndia so that we can help him in any way we could. I am glad that the surgery was successful, and he is doing well. I hope Varad gets back on his feet at the earliest and goes on to achieve his dreams. I hope my contribution inspires more and more people to come forward and help those in need," Rahul was quoted as saying in a release.

Since September 2021, the fifth standard schoolboy had been under the care of hematologists in Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital after he was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder.

Varad's blood platelet levels were very low, making his immune system extremely susceptible to infections. Even a normal fever was taking months to be cured. A bone marrow transplant was the only permanent cure for Varad's condition.

The middle-class family had run out of funds, with his father even liquidating his provident fund savings to pay for Varad's mounting medical bills to keep his son's dreams of becoming a cricketer alive. He also bought his son a fancy cricket bat for his 11th birthday to cheer up Varad and give the aspiring young batsman some hope.

Sitting next to a smiling Varad, his mother Swapna, with folded hands, said: "We are thankful to KL Rahul for donating such a large amount for Varad's surgery. But for him, it would have been impossible to carry out the bone marrow transplant in such a short period of time. Thank you, Rahul."