A dad from Birmingham who has been fighting for his life has been given a fresh chance of survival after £100,000 was raised in less than 24 hours for his treatment.
JLR Worker Inderpal Singh from Acocks Green has been battling against an aggressive form of leukaemia and had a mere 28 days to find the six-figure sum to finance ground-breaking treatment in Israel.
A Birmingham-based TV station The Sikh Channel, who picked up Inderpal’s story turned it into something of a telethon.
The channel’s tv presenter Kam Singh started the ball rolling on along with another presenter Del Singh, who hosts chat show Late Night Banter, when the magical target was met.
In the studio, Inderpal’s family wiped away tears of joy as the stream of donations turned into a torrent.
Within 24 hours £100,000 target amount was raised and the cash didn’t only come from the Sikh community, Del stressed.
“There were a lot of people from other communities – Muslims and Christian people and people of no faith,” he said. “They did it because it was the human thing to do.
“It was the look on the family’s faces when we reached the £100,000. There was a lot of tears, a lot of hugging.”
Companies, charities and ordinary folk were touched by the 29-year-old’s plight. The JLR worker was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2013.
Inderpal who is now at the Sheba Medical Centre for groundbreaking Car T-Cell treatment, which costs around £8,000 a day.
A donation of £14,500 from Willenhall company Fortel Construction pushed the total over the line, but it was one of a number of heavyweight donations.
Charity Midland Langar Seva Society weighed in with £10,000, Sikh Youth UK handed over £2,500.
Inderpal’s brother Hardeep is still struggling to come to terms with what has taken place.
“It was unreal,” he said. “It has made us realise the value of human kindness.
“So much pressure has been lifted from us, but we are continuing to fund-raise for any unforseen costs.”
