Why This Exists
He was twenty-seven.
We had his bloodwork in our hands twelve days before he died.
In April 2022, a young filmmaker joined the team at iThrive. His job was to edit videos, but he did far more than that — he also worked with an NGO, teaching construction workers' children through storytelling. In early May, we decided to build a project around him: a twelve-week show in which we would take him through our 90-day journey and let him reclaim his health on camera. We wanted to show the world how simple it really is to use food as medicine.
On 18 May 2022 we ran his blood work. The reports were shocking. Very high levels of inflammation. A high risk of clots. Markers badly off in a way we do not expect to see in a 27-year-old. A quick check into his history told us he had recently taken the vaccine — and the picture made sense to us, because we had been seeing it in clients with post-vaccine and post-Covid issues.
The team started building his dietary protocol and supplement list immediately. On 30 May 2022, at 6:30 in the morning, Mugdha received a call. He had died the previous night — a sudden stroke, on set, while shooting another project.
"I witnessed his mother wailing, lamenting as his dead body was brought home for the last rites. And I felt I had failed him, because I knew — I had seen his blood work. I felt I hadn't done enough. And then I realized, there are many more like him.
From that heartache and a sense of moral responsibility — that Rahul's death, his sacrifice, shouldn't go to waste — we have created the Rahul Protocol. I truly hope this document saves lives, unlike the one that we couldn't. We failed one, but maybe we can now save others."
— Mugdha Pradhan
Rahul
1994 — 2022
Name changed to protect his family's privacy. He was a filmmaker and a storyteller, and he had big dreams about making a difference in the world.