our northstar
aidKRIYA is a social venture of Gita & Susil Kumar Das (GnSkD) Foundation. It aspires to embody the motto - 'Serving Motion for the Nation' - by promoting, developing, encouraging and supporting the various stakeholders, who aid motion, with a focus on the ecosystem of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
Our Vision
Be India’s Pioneer in Aiding Warriors inflicted with
Autoimmune Diseases of Joints and Bowels.
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Our Mission
Encourage cutting edge research and technology interventions using physical
aides and digital apps.
Enable caregivers and the people who aid motion - delivery boys and girls, cleaners
and the like - in one way or another.
Support events and activities that
create awareness on the importance
of motion in our lives.
THE LOGO
Change is motion in action
Our logo captures motion utilizing the yin-yang or Ardhanarishwar symbolism. The green and yellow colors in our logo Stans for youth and vibrancy of human life. While the wheel represent the lifespon.
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Both internal and external motion of the human body are essential for its wellbeing.The fluidly of these motions depicts good healthy lifstyle. At times, these motions get affected and life comes to a standstill, impacting the physical and mental health of the individual and the family
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We at aidKRIYA aspire to aid these motions through our programs. We pray and wish for the ease of motion throughout life.
Memoirs Imprinted
Toilet Seat
27th April 2020. 7 am. Call from the BCU. Maa had lost the battle that she had fought valiantly over the last 6 years. October 2014. Five months since baba passed away all of a sudden. Maa was spending a bit more time in the washroom lately. Maa complained of bloating and a wavering bowel motion - constipation and loose motion. Occasionally reddish. Alarm bells rang. A quick diagnosis could be a probable ulcer, colitis, and a gamut of all complications of the GI tract. Many a advise pour in. Eat less spicy food. No non veg. Eat lots of fiber. Try this. Try that. Jamshedpur is a small town. Only one specialist Gastroenterologist. Finally after 8 weeks, he scribbles down IBS/IBD. What's that? Google to the rescue. Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome is a confusing disease. It just happens - there is no specific cause. Could be auto-immune. Could be lifestyle. Could be stress. The doctor said the condition is going to be chronic. Be active. Eat well. Take less stress. Between 2015-2019, we consulted doctors in Jamshedpur, Kolkata and Bengaluru. Homeopathic and Allopathic. Some medicines gave relief. Some didn't. Maa kept on fighting and kept up a brave face and participated in full whenever and wherever she could. Mid 2019, Maa complained of mild fever and extreme tiredness almost every day. A checkup showed a slight increase in the thyroid hormone. She took the pills and seemed to be okay. The chills returned again in February 2020 - this time with intense itchiness in the back. One night in late March 2020, she had severe loose motion, but she felt that her stomach was still bloated. 23rd April. There's a lung collapse. But how did the water get there? Could it be TB, Cancer, Jaundice - or a complication of IBD that went undetected... IBD slowly takes away a person's appetite and the will to live. The everlasting stomach cramps, bloating, restrictive eating saps the vital nutrients. There is no cure as the reason is unknown. It is luck - some live a couple of years and some more. Even sadder is that it is difficult to get a specialist doctor opinion even after one has located one. IBD affects close to 15 crore Indians every year. Many go undetected. Untreated.
Can we do something together?
Ten Toes
June 1993. Baba and I had retired to bed in one of the IIT Kanpur hostels. Around 4 am, Baba woke up with a loud shriek - a pain in the knee joint. It was kind of warm and swollen.
For a person who had played football and had won many a race, pain was second nature. But this was something different. It never seemed to go away. Every couple of weeks, the knee joints played spoilsport - first the left and then the right - sometimes together.
Painkillers became the only savior. In the mid 1990s and in small towns, diagnosis was difficult. Finally blood tests revealed a high RA factor. The indicator for Rheumatoid Arthritis.
There is no cure - maintain your weight, avoid certain kinds of food, avoid alcohol and smoking etc etc.
Painkillers were the only saviour. Meanwhile the arthritis progressed. By the end of 2006, the wrists and ankles in addition to the knee joints got affected. The fingers and toes twisted in strange angles - we could only stare and give solace that things are not going to get any worse.
Sept 2008. Baba complained of itching in the foot. In a couple of days, gangrene developed. This is when arthritis affects the peripheral nerves making sensation almost numb. Half a foot had to be amputated.
Winters were bad. Baba became more homebound. We tried to keep him active by doing small exercises in the house. Maa played the caretaker for almost two decades.
Almost 9 medicines in a day. You never know where arthritis is going to attack next- it could be the lungs, soft tissues and so on.
Finally Baba's heart gave away on 4th of June 2014.
Arthritis changes lives drastically- not only for the person affected, but for the entire family. Outings, get togethers become things of yester years - spouses become care-givers and the sufferer is often left alone mentally and physically. There is no cure - doctors treat symptoms. Even worse, getting the right prescription is difficult.
Rheumatied Arthritis does not discriminate. It can happen to anyone and any joint of the body can be affected.
Around 180 million people in India are affected by arthritis - around 1% of them suffer from RA.
Can we do something together?
About
co-aiders
Sumitesh Das
