Meet Arya
Arya Majumder was born on July 29th, 1998. He was a vivacious child always bursting with energy. He loved, lived, shared and cared with a huge heart. Although cancer took his life, it could never take away his spirit and didn’t change who he was as a person.
Arya was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, a week before his 8th birthday. After initial remission, he relapsed in December 2008. Arya received a bone marrow transplant in April 2009 but relapsed in January 2010. Arya battled cancer with a smile and dignity and he tried his very best to have a normal childhood in between his run to the doctors and hospital.
Arya loved his school and desperately wanted to go to school every single day. He was good in his studies, managing to be in honor rolls even when he could barely attend classes. He has very close to his friends, teachers, principal and vice-principal. They all visited him regularly at hospital and provided him immense emotional support and courage to fight.
In his last days, the chemo toxicity sapped Arya’s energy. He became nearly blind and could barely move his lower limbs. Even then he hardly ever complained about the pain and never lived like he was sick. He would ask his parents to help him sit in his hospital bed, so that he could do the upper body workout. The doctors at Sloan often called him “a rock star” because of the incredible way he handled the crippling side effects of the cancer treatment.
In spite of suffering from cancer, during his short life Arya tried to enjoy life to the fullest living large whenever possible. He loved video games, music and sports like baseball, football, horse-back riding, swimming, surfing and so on. He rooted for the Yankees and Rangers and he doted on his golden retriever, Max, and cat Fluffy.
Even through the four year battle with cancer, Arya’s spirit of kindness and generosity never faded for an instant. He enjoyed sending money to children’s hospitals like St. Jude’s and Shriners and being a Secret Santa to kids at Friends of Karen.
He lost his battle with cancer on April 25th 2010. He wasn’t even 12. His parents, Swati and Kumud, wanted to keep on fighting in Arya’s memory so other children could not only survive the disease, but also benefit from more advanced treatments with fewer and milder side effects.
Arya’s legacy
With Arya’s loving, laughing and fighting spirit in their hearts, Swati and Kumud created the Arya’s Kids Foundation. Arya’s Kids is about Arya and his spirited determination. It’s built on his memory, and rooted in his strength. It’s also about every other kid with cancer. And it’s about you who have the power to help keep this from ravaging other young lives and their families.
Middle School Debate Program
Legacy wise Arya started leaving his footprints on the sand of time during his short lifetime itself. Specifically, Arya started the first ever Middle School Debate Program as an effort to do something new in the school. AS he was suffering from Cancer and undergoing bone marrow transplant, Arya understood that young kids should be able to do something constructive even when they have physical limitations imposed on them through sickness or otherwise. When he proposed to the middle school management his idea of a Debate Program, it was completely novel as middle schoolers are considered to be too young for debating. After all, it’s something that usually starts at High School. Being very open minded Arya’s Cavallini School Principal gave an opportunity to make his case. Arya did such a good job of convincing that the school approved his project even when they were in the middle of a budget cut.
While Arya got the green light in end of 2009, he soon fell terminally ill and had no chance to see his dream come true. Once again, thanks to the Cavallini school and efforts of Arya’s father- Kumud, this debate program has seen the light of the day in 2010-2011 school year. The program has been aptly named as “iDebate for Arya @Cavallini” with the motto- “Today’s Debater, Tomorrow’s Senator”. This program, the first of its kind in the entire state of New Jersey, continues to this day. The debate program has helped many of the students to shine, middle school students who otherwise feel outcaste due to physical or other limitations.
In the news: Cavallini School makes Arya’s dream come true
Improving Bone Marrow Donation
The second legacy created in Arya’s lifetime is the contribution he and his family made in improving the Bone Marrow Donation, particularly by the minority communities. Arya’s case has been widely used in fighting for justice for this cause. These have widely reported in the media- both in national TV networks as well as major national and local news papers:
Fighting adversity through Creative Arts
With his wings trimmed by cancer, Arya learned to express his thoughts and dreams through poems. He has written many poems that his family collected and published in the form of a book aptly named after one of Arya’s poems– Do you have a Wonder? The book has been published not merely as a book of Arya’s poems, but as a Living Book whereby all readers can pen their thoughts and add to the book to make their practically inaudible voices heard very loudly. For a copy of this book write to: doyouhaveawonder@gmail.com or kumud@aryaskids.org
In the news: Local man publishes ‘living book’ of son’s poems
Board of Directors
- President and Secretary: Louisa H. Quarto.
Executive Vice President, AR Global Investments, LLC, US
LQuarto@AryasKids.org - Vice President and Treasurer: Kumud Majumder.
IT Council Member, WGU, UT & Adjunct Assoc. Prof., CUNY, NY, US
Kumud@AryasKids.org - BOD Member: Tony Braddock.
Retired Technology Director, Citi Group, US
aryaskids@gmail.com - BOD Member: Mahesh Jhangiani.
aryaskids@gmail.com