Former O.B. tennis star seeking help from donors
Rupali Kulkarni
By lori elkins solomon
Correspondent
OLD BRIDGE — Rupali Kulkarni planned to spend her summer vacation training for tennis team tryouts at Drew University in Madison.
Instead, the energetic 17-year-old is faced with an even bigger challenge — fighting leukemia, which the young athlete was diagnosed with shortly after graduating from Old Bridge High School in June.
"I had bruised the weekend after prom, and my school nurse said to watch out for them [the bruises]. I was getting more bruises so I went to my doctor," Rupali recalled, speaking last week from her room at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick.
Her doctor discovered that Rupali’s platelets and red blood cells were very low. He sent her to a hematologist/oncologist, who diagnosed her July 22. The former high school tennis star is now hoping that blood donors with her blood type will come forward to help her recovery. Rupali, who graduated with a grade point average of 3.67, had been an accomplished member of the Old Bridge girls’ varsity tennis team during her freshman, sophomore and junior years in high school. She was a two-time first-singles champion in the Greater Middlesex Conference, and was named Most Valuable Player all three years. In the fall 2000, when the team faced an exceptionally difficult schedule, Rupali went 14-3 for Old Bridge at first singles.
Rupali has also been an active member of the Cheesequake Volunteer First Aid Squad, so much so that in her senior year she took a break from tennis to devote more hours to helping the community.
"Rupali stopped playing tennis because she joined the Cheesequake First Aid Squad and decided that she wanted to pursue a career in medicine. So, she volunteered more hours there instead of playing tennis," said her older sister, Rasika.
Rupali was scheduled to enter Drew University this September, where she planned to try out for the tennis team and begin taking classes in pre-med and pre-law.
"I want to do something combining pre-law and pre-med, and maybe become a medical lawyer," she said, "because I like to talk, and I’m part of the Cheesequake First Aid Squad. I’m interested in that kind of stuff."
The teen-ager said she had planned to spend her summer bicycling, running and practicing tennis. All that has changed with her diagnosis, and she is now gearing up for an aggressive chemotherapy treatment.
Rupali said she does not intend to allow the disease to stop her from pursuing her dreams, however. She said she will take a year off from playing tennis and then begin training for the Drew University team.
"The doctors said I’ll be [getting treatment] for a year and a half," she said. "I’m hoping [it won’t take] more than eight months. I’m pretty optimistic."
Rasika Kulkarni said that, overall, her younger sister has been "very strong and high spirited." However, that optimism relies in part on blood and platelet donors being sought in order to supplement Rupali’s intensive treatment.
"She has been in the hospital for a little less than two weeks and already had three transfusions," Rasika Kulkarni said last week.
Rupali’s blood type is B positive. However, platelets can be donated by people with any blood type. To donate blood or platelets, call St. Peter’s University Hospital at (732) 745-8600.