Addite Malik on raising funds for Vibhu Raghave: We don’t want him to think about finances

Actor and restaurateur Addite Malik is lending her support to a crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for actor Vibhu Raghave. She says Raghave’s friends have come together to raise funds so that he doesn’t have to fret about the finances while fighting aggressively against cancer.

Last year, Raghave was diagnosed with fourth stage of a rare, aggressive type of colon cancer, and has been undergoing treatment since then.

“When he was diagnosed with cancer, it came as a shock to all of us and him. It took him a month to understand what was happening to him. After that, he has been fighting it strongly, and researching the illness, with a zeal to get healthy. While we are sure he is going to fight it out, we don’t want him to think about how it’s going to happen financially. That is why his friends decided to stand by him and start the campaign to collect funds for him,” Malik says.

The 40-year-old continues, “During the treatment, we realised that it is going to be costly, especially with Vibhu being the only earning member of his family. This is the second year of his treatment, and there is an urgency to get funds. Cancer as a disease drains a person out financially also, not even physically. This step is to make him feel secure.”

For Malik, Raghave is just a friend, but more like family. And she admits after losing her own father to the disease, she wants to go all out to help him come out of it.

“I lost my father with cancer in 2021. I’m still not over it. It has been over a year and it is still very fresh in my mind. We are also extending all our support to the family. There are people who have come together with smallest amounts to contribute for him, and even that matters. Because we need to build a huge fund for him. It’s not about Rs2-3-20 lakh. We don’t know how much is going to be spent because it’s a very rare type of cancer. He might also need a surgery late,” she says, ending, “It is an effort by all of us to stand by him and to make sure that he sails through.”