After oral, breast, ovarian and lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancers are the most common kind of cancer in India. Gastrointestinal cancers are more common in men than in women. People over fifty are more likely to get this kind of cancer. An infection with the H. Pylori bacteria in the stomach can put you at risk of stomach cancers too.

Gastrointestinal cancer is the cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. This refers to the tract through which food passes. Malignant conditions in this tract are referred to as gastrointestinal cancer. The organs that may be affected by this condition are: food pipe, stomach, biliary system, pancreas, small intestine, large intestine and anus. Colorectal cancer, cancer of the colon and rectum, is a fairly common kind of cancer.

Depending on the location of the cancer, it can be treated by your doctor. Treatment may involve an operation or not. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are common means of treatment. If you are a careful person, early detection of cancer is quite possible. Needless to say, all this is expensive and subject to your financial condition. This throws at us the question of what do poor or middle class people affected with the disease do? Are loans and depletion of savings the only option for them? This may look like the fate of so many underprivileged people but this is not the case anymore. Crowdfunding has made a change to all of this.

What is crowdfunding? Well, simply put, it is the process by which a lot of people contribute small amounts of money to raise a large amount geared towards a specific usage. It is not a new practice. Offline crowdfunding has been popular in India However, online crowdfunding is a fairly new phenomenon. The opening up of the internet space to more people has enabled the creation of a crowdfunding market in which thousands of people have the opportunity to raise money for their specific projects. These include NGO projects, business projects and yes, crowdfunding for medical treatment.

Even in medical crowdfunding, there are some diseases and conditions for which people crowdfund more than others. The most common illness is cancer. Liver and kidney transplants are also common reasons for crowdfunding. All of these illnesses are common, yet access to treatment involves spending a lot of money.

Crowdfunding for GI cancer is not uncommon. If you want help with crowdfunding for cancer, you can always converse with someone who has done it before. However, there are some basic guidelines keeping in mind the specific needs of gastrointestinal cancer patients.

1. If you have been diagnosed with some form of gastrointestinal cancer already, do not hesitate to start a fundraiser on a crowdfunding site of your choice. There are various crowdfunding platforms in India but you have to figure out what works best for you.
2. There are platforms like Impact Guru that provide you assistance with your crowdfunding in exchange for a service fee. Assisted crowdfunding can be helpful because you are provided with a manager who can keep track of your project.
3. Crowdfunding is important as it enables you to not be overly dependent on anyone. However, try to raise funds for yourself with a team especially if you are raising funds for a medical treatment. Your team will keep track of all the day-to- day running of the campaign.
4. Always upload pictures of relevant medical documents and treatment in your fundraiser.
5. Lastly, keep all your contributors in the loop. This is good crowdfunding practice that creates a healthy environment for all those who might want to raise funds later.

Cancer crowdfunding can be a long process but at the same time it is low- risk and low- investment.

Article – 14

Crowdfunding for Kidney Transplant

Kidney transplant is one of the most expensive of commonly required surgeries. A kidney transplant in India costs at least 2 to 3 lakhs in a private hospital. This is why the treatment remains unaffordable for patients from low income groups. It is estimated that at least 6 lakh people need kidney transplants in India. Crowdfunding can help people get kidney transplants.

What is a kidney transplant?

A kidney transplant is the process of putting a different kidney into your body because your own kidneys have failed. The kidney might come from a living donor or a dead one. If the kidney comes from a living donor, it should not take a lot of time to start working. In the case of a dead donor, it takes time and until then you have to be on dialysis.

The process of getting a kidney is complicated and most kidneys are obtained from the black market. In fact, a flourishing black market revolves around the kidney trade. This makes kidney transplants even more unaffordable to most people.

The costs do not end here. If you have undergone a kidney transplant, you will have to be on immunosuppressant medicines as long as your new kidney works. This is because your body rejects foreign objects.

However, the quality of life of a person is known to improve a lot after a kidney transplant.

Kidney transplants are expensive and people need money for them which may be covered by insurance for some of them. For the vast majority who cannot afford insurance, medical loans and depletion of savings are the only option.

Crowdfunding is a better option than either of the two. There is no question of paying back money over the years. Nobody feels overly burdened as lots of people contribute small amounts of money. This is why medical fundraising has gained popularity in recent times.

If you decide to engage in medical crowdfunding India, here are a few guidelines for you:

1. Choose your crowdfunding platform well. There are plenty of platforms available all over the internet. Go for one that suits your purpose best and provides you with assistance during the campaign. Impact Guru is a good option.
2. Write your fundraiser. Remember that your fundraiser is what will be read by people hence it must be above question. It should clearly delineate all your problems and why you find yourself unable to carry it through. It should contain pictures of medical documents to further your claims. In case of kidney transplant crowdfunding, please upload photographs of previous treatments that the patient has undergone (like dialysis).
3. Contact all the people you know live with a transplanted kidney. These are people likely to aid you financially and with information. Keeping in touch with these people might result in you having a support group.
4. If you think one fundraiser is not enough to raise the total amount that is your target, split it up among several fundraisers and share those on social media. For this, you will need a team of people to assist you. Each person will share one fundraiser and this way it will circulate in different social circles.
5. This is also why you need to raise funds with a team. Crowdfunding for medical treatment can get tedious and if you are a busy person you will not be able to attend to your campaign all the time. This is why you need a team of dedicated supporters who would share your campaign and help with the daily operation of the campaign.

Although crowdfunding in India sounds tedious, it is still one of the best ways of accessing funds as it is low investment and does not involve any risks.