It was the month of December in 2016 when Kiran Verma decided to quit his high-paying marketing job to champion the cause of voluntary blood donation. The transition was inspired by an unforgettable incident. Walking down memory lane, the 37-year-old social worker recalled, “Following a distress call from a stranger, I donated blood at a hospital. It was only when I met the recipient’s family that I learnt the blood was sold by a tout to a poor patient from Chhattisgarh whose wife had paid Rs 1,500. Due to poverty and the impact of demonetisation, the woman was pushed to prostitution to meet her husband’s medical expenses. Shattered and infuriated by the plight of the woman, I quit my job that day and chose to work towards ensuring free access to donated blood.”
And so, a year later, Verma set up Change With One foundation, through which he started the virtual, location-based blood donation mobile application/ website Simply Blood. The app brings blood donors and recipients together. The platform has, so far, saved around 35,000 lives through blood donation. Now, the Delhi-based man is on a 21,000-kilometre journey across India by foot to encourage blood donation. He began at Thiruvananthapuram on December 28, 2021, and set foot in Tamil Nadu on February 8. 50+ days into the endeavour, he found himself in Madurai, having marched an impressive 1,500 kilometres so far.
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