HOUSTON — Eight-year-old Rushi Gandhi, of League City, dreams of owning a Lamborghini when he grows up.
But some dreams can’t wait for the future, especially when Rushi is facing a life-threatening blood disorder.
Rushi received the ride of a lifetime Thursday in his dream car – a Lamborghini – on his way to Texas Children’s Hospital where he receives a blood transfusion every three weeks.
The 8-year-old rode in a Lamborghini Aventador 50th Anniversary Edition, of which only 100 were produced. This was made possible by a member of the Scuderia Society, the producers of the Lamborghini Festival and a group of exotic car lovers dedicated to helping sick children.
“I'm going to tell my teacher and all my friends that I got to ride in a Lambo,” Rushi said.
Rushi is fighting a rare life-threatening blood disorder – beta thalassemia major, or Cooley’s Anemia, which affects people of Indian descent more than any other ethnicity.
In Rushi’s short life, he’s had between 200-300 blood transfusions and countless trips to the hospital. Though a cure for his Beta Thalassemia is possible through blood stem cell transplant, it remains out of reach due to the fact that there are no matching donors on the international registry.
Rushi wants to be like the rest of his classmates – able to play sports and be active. Unfortunately, due to his health condition he cannot.
He must find his genetic “twin,” someone who would be willing to donate blood stem cells, which is his only chance of a cure from his dangerous blood disorder. He’s been waiting for eight years to find a match and he urgently needs one.
Out of 20 million potential donors on the Be The Match Registry, just over 1 percent identify as South Asian. But it’s easy to join the registry – and it only takes a cheek swab to potentially save a life.
Ethnically diverse donors between the ages of 18-44 years old are needed.
Interested donors can visit Be the Match Registry here to complete a brief health history.
A swab kit is sent directly to their home address. Only 1 in 430 registrants on the Be the Match Registry in the U.S. will go on to donate.