Tribute to Aakash

My name is Nikki Patel and I am Aakash's mom. My son was the light of my life. He always had a smile on his face. There was not a time where I can remember where he wasn't making others laugh or smile. He was my best friend. We did everything together -- from watching movies, to cooking, to getting pedicures, and trying new restaurants. He embodied a perfect son.

Aakash had endless amounts of talents. One in particular was dancing. He graduated from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. There, he was a part of UIUC Raas and Fizaa. Winning countless of competitions brought so much joy to his life. Being a captain on his Raas team, he had to learn responsibility which carried over to his normal life too. His friends saw him as an older brother and someone they could always lean on. He was friends with anyone and everyone and made a huge impact on their lives.

Aakash was a very selfless person. He took care of me and his younger brother in the toughest times of our lives. Aakash had one of the biggest hearts. He always wanted to help where and when he could. During the last few months of his life, Aakash was struggling with his mental health. We know that he would want to help others in similar situations and so in honor of his passing, our family would like to raise money for mental health.

I'm raising money in honor of Aakash to benefit StrongMinds. StrongMinds is a social enterprise founded in 2013 that provides life-changing mental health services to impoverished African women. Since many African women cannot even begin to tackle issues like poverty and economic development until they overcome depression, StrongMinds provides treatment for women who suffer from this pervasive and debilitating mental illness. By providing group talk therapy delivered by community health workers, StrongMinds is the only organization scaling a cost-effective solution to the depression epidemic in Africa.

All and any donation will help make an impact to this cause. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.