Donate Blood, Save Lives.

Thanks to every blood donors for their contribution.

For 2021, the World Blood Donor Day slogan is 'Give blood and keep the world beating'.

For 2021, the World Blood Donor Day slogan will be “Give blood and keep the world beating”. 💓
The message highlights the essential contribution blood donors make to keeping the world pulsating by saving lives and improving others’ health.

It reinforces the global call for more people all over the world to donate blood regularly and contribute to better health.💞

HAPPY WORLD BLOOD DONOR DAY TO ALL OF US. WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER. ✊

Video source: WHO (World Health Organization)

I'm Aaditya Rauniyar, a 24-year-old "Thal" fighter, from the picturesque city of Kathmandu, nestled in the hills of Nepal. I've completed my Bachelor's of Arts in International Hospitality and Tourism Management but waiting for my official graduation day. I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, drawing and watching anime. I never let my Thal status affect my performance while I completed 6-months of internship in Crowne Plaza. With the same positive energy, my entrepreneurial journey is running smoothly too- Swaadilo (Food & Beverage).

I was diagnosed with ‘Beta-Thalassemia Major’ when I was 15 months of age, in SGRH, New Delhi. There was no proper knowledge regarding "Thalassaemia", an inherited genetic blood disorder, of "Thalassaemia major" is the most severe form. Every child is special for their parents, similarly, I was special too. In the past, lack of awareness lead my parents to feed me iron-rich foods to battle my anemia but that was all in vain. I then had to take my first blood transfusion before my diagnosis. I started living with the support of blood transfusions, even before I could properly speak, just like most other thalassemia major warriors. At every 2 week interval, I've been receiving 2 units of blood and having 'Defrijet' to lower my iron levels. Before Defrijet, I used Kelfer, Desferal, Desirox, Asunra, and Deferiprone. Use of Kelfer in the past caused me long-term side effects such as pain while bending my knees. Later, I discovered Defrijet to be the most beneficial one.

I'm indebted to my parents, for keeping me healthy and encouraging me to have a moderately normal life despite all the hardships we've endured. My parents and parents of other thalassaemics united and established the Nepal Thalassaemia Society, Nepal's first and only thalassemia society. Nepal Thalassaemia Society has been providing free blood transfusions to every Thal warrior. They have been trying to share the responsibility with other hospitals, as the society is facing financial problems with the increased running costs and patient flow.

Despite needing to transfuse blood every 2 weeks, I've never considered myself a weak person, instead I consider myself a Thal warrior. Although my whole life, I've been pricked with needles, I'm still afraid of it. Can't look at myself or anyone being pricked for that matter. My journey has been bumpy, dealing with physical, mental and financial strain due to thalassaemia, as well as overcoming countless missed opportunities.

My parents were very protective and had me join school a year later, compared to neighborhood kids my age. The only thing I despise was being treated differently at schools because of my parents' "special care" instructions. I was verbally made to feel different and while the whole class got physical punishments, I was verbally abused about how I would just faint if someone points a finger at me. I was a child and those harsh verbal abuses stung. While I was still figuring out about myself, some of my classmates started to bully me, made fun of my condition, without knowing anything about it.

At first, I didn't get any opportunity to be part of any physical sports in games period. The saddest memory related to the first games period assembly in 5th grade was, being called out and the teacher narrated about my inability to participate in games, due to a condition they vaguely understand. The afternoon was spent answering the curiosity of my friends. I remember returning home angry and in tears, questioning my father, on what made him think sharing about my health condition to the school authority was a good idea. Despite all that, I was able to have genuine friendships, and few are still close to me. I changed my school after 8th grade because the trauma related to being a thalassaemic as well as harassments, took a toll on my mental health and academics. Once I changed my school, I requested my parents not to mention anything regarding my health condition as I didn't want to go through the same trauma again. This is when I started to live dual lives in the course of evading sympathy.

Empathy is a great thing everyone should have, but sympathy is something I despise. For this reason, I made excuses when I had transfusions or had to get home early to have my chelation medication, which was done early in the morning. Changing school was the best thing that happened to me, where I found my lifelong friends. In 2012, I caught jaundice and a year later, was diagnosed with hepatitis C, suspected to have been caused through infected blood transfusion. Thankfully I managed to fully recover with the help of strict anti-viral medication regime by 2015. The fear inside me was extremely high, i.e. permanent damage to my liver.

I kept my private and public life separate and stopped sharing about my past life and thalassemia. After I completed high school, I think it was the most challenging period for me, i.e. to pursue a degree of my choice abroad. There were no undergraduate courses related to animation in Nepal so I tried my luck in a foreign universities. I was even accepted by an Australian university. However, my medical conditions, insurance difficulties, and astronomical transfusion costs made it impossible for me to pursue my education there. I stepped back, leaving my animation dreams.

I believed and kept motivating myself with the slogan "everything comes with a silver lining". Lamenting over spilled milk is the last thing I wanna do. With a year-long gap, I joined Bachelor's of Arts in International Hospitality & Tourism at Sliver Mountain School of Hotel Management, hoping I could experience life abroad through internship programs. Well, it didn't work due to my condition and a series of unfortunate events, including the COVID crisis, and my foreign internship opportunity was once again shelved indefinitely. Motivating myself with the slogan "everything must have a silver lining", I started internship at , a multinational tourism NGO here in Kathmandu and then moved into entrepreneurship, opening a food business, making good use of my culinary interests. Throughout COVID lockdowns, many new businesses sprang up in Nepal, including Swaadilo. Gathering the support of my team, we specialize in making and delivering premium quality condiments with 'MaLa Chilli Oil' being our first and flagship product.

In early March, I went under the knife after being incidentaly diagnosed with a large but benign adrenal adenoma, a tumor growing inside me. Gathering support from our company, we managed to sponsor a blood donation camp for the Nepal Thalassaemia Society, in association with Donate Blood, Save Lives. Now, I can feel the change within me, a guy who didn't want to speak about going through thalassemia, has now started to share more about it, in the hope of preventing future suffering. I'm eagerly waiting for my graduation, hopefully in August, if the situation eases. In the current state, Nepal is under a lockdown due to the new variant and increasing cases. Along with lockdown measures, the fear of blood shortages makes a reappearance. Remembering last year's lockdown, the days were a nightmare as blood was scarce. A few very precious lives were lost because of the inaccessibility of fresh blood and some developed chronic conditions due to iron overload, after not being able to chelate for a long time.

I believe a lot of work has to be done for the proper management of the awareness programs for Thalassemia in Nepal. I would be overjoyed if thalassemia screenings and prenatal diagnosis of genetic disorders were made compulsory and subsidized. Still, there is a lack of awareness. We can see every year, there are newly born children with beta thalassemia major. Chelation therapy is a highly expensive affair and I believe it should be made free for all Thal warriors. Blood transfusions are half of our worries while expelling iron buildup is the other important part of healthy living too.

In video: Aaditya Rauniyar




- Aaditya Rauniyar