Surfing with the storm - Neelesh Shekdar

Losing your only child is never easy. However, there are some rare individuals who not only survive the storm but come out more compassionate, humble and wanting to serve the world through the lens of their child. Neelesh shares his beautiful relationship with this son in this amazing heartfelt interview.
‘Ajinkya taught me to celebrate life’, were the words of this father who lost his only 15 year old son to Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia after a long drawn battle spanning over 8 years ending in March 2020. It is tough for any parent to watch their son go through endless cycles of chemo, a heavy financial loss and in the end, unsuccessful bone marrow transplant.
It was during this time Neelesh realized the need for societal support in fundraising, that today has become a cause close to his heart and resulted in the formation of a support group called ‘Master Ajinkya Shekdar smriti’ to help fundraise through the selling of a book on Ajinkya’s life on his tryst with Cancer and various events for fundraising to support paediatric patients going through similar journeys.
In this podcast/interview we will understand a father’s perspective on seeing his son go through this and how he came out a stronger yet kinder and compassionate human being who wants to do a lot for the children who reminds him of Ajinkya every day.