A letter from a father to the community

On behalf of my family, I thank you for being with us in our trying time with your kind support and comforting prayers.

It is natural that such untimely tragic news does raise many questions in everybody’s mind. You may be all wondering: What happened? What changed the child who held such a promising future? What destroyed such a beautiful and gentle child? Today, I want to share with you these answers with the hope that something positive may come out of his tragic death. 

Our son was a gifted student and he had time and again established his superior intelligence by achieving extraordinary feats.  He was one of the 200 students who got admission at the prestigious Wharton School of Business. This brief video clip is a testimonial to his liveliness and aspirations:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-Nuxp4htDU

He had a bright future ahead of him. However, our son was hurting inside. Every moment of each day, his inside was torn apart by the feelings of despair and rays of hope. He was battling with a dreadful and paralyzing mental illness called Bipolar Disorder for the past several years.

Just as we all do, we have been asking ourselves: could this tragedy have been avoided? Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment or cure for this illness. This knowledge has caused an immense pain to everybody in our family. The whole family was living on edge not knowing what to expect next. Any unexpected phone calls about him caused our hearts to skip a beat. Every unanswered phone call to him would leave us restless.

God only knows of pain our family endured, but we knew how much excruciating pain our son was in. We knew how wounded our son was by this merciless illness. However hurtful his departure is, deep down we feel that our son has stopped hurting at last.

We are sharing our pain with you today with the hope that our son’s death will not go in vain. Modern medicine has not yet succeeded in overpowering menacing mental illnesses. There is much more research needed. We have a long way to go. We must recognize the magnitude of the problem we are facing from mental illnesses and come together and join in the battle along side the victims.

We want our son’s death to be an awakening – an awakening to learn more about depression and bipolar disorder. Now more than ever, our community needs to come together and build a support system and spread awareness to reach out and help our family and friends who experience a similar pain and hurt that Vivek endured.

We request you to do your part to build a support system for our Community.  A support system that will encourage families to embrace differences, a support system that will help families in need, a support system where our children can grow knowing they are loved unconditionally and a support system that will respond to the needs of those suffering from illnesses of all kinds. 

A handful of us have been trying for a while to develop such a support system and we need your help. Please join with us in this battle.

We request a donation to the

Vivek A. Patel Foundation

to benefit the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance

Click here to view the Fund Page for Vivek A. Patel Foundation
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/TR/Events/Content-DonateNow?px=1540181&pg=fund&fr_id=1030

Again, we appreciate your kind support and comforting prayers.

With gratitude,
Amrut and family

 "Through selfless service, you will always be prolific and will find the fulfillment of all your desires."
~ A promise by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita (Ch. 3, Verse 10)
 
 "Live in the present. Do the things that need to be done. Do all the good you can each day. The future will unfold."
~ Peace Pilgrim (1908-1981, American Peace Activist)

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