Father of 2-year-old cancer patient in Dubai appeals for help

Dubai: The father of a 28-month-old boy admitted to Dubai Hospital for a treatable form of blood cancer is desperately appealing for help.

Sadiq Pasha Sagheer, an electronics salesman who earns less than Dh4,000 a month, is unable to pay the mounting bills of chemotherapy for his only son Mohammad Khuzaymah Sadiq’s treamtmen.

Narrating his plight, Sagheer, an Indian expatriate from Bengaluru told Gulf News: “My only son was hale and hearty until October 6, this year. On October 7, he contracted fever and initially we took him to the family clinic near my home where he was treated with medicines.”

However, after nearly a week of taking paracetamols and cough syrups the child’s fever refused to subside and he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Sagheer said: “My GP felt the child was too breathless and he asked us to take him to the Dubai Hospital emergency section, which we did, on October 12.“

A few tests and scans later, the parents learnt the devastating news that what they thought was common cold and seasonal flu in fact was a T-Cell Leukaemia (a type of blood cancer). Since October 12, baby Mohammad has been admitted to the paediatric oncology ward of Dubai Hospital and has been undergoing chemotherapy cycles.

Dr Anjan Medasu, paediatric oncologist treating the child, said the prognosis for his treatment looked good. “Usually there is an 80-90 per cent chance of remission in this kind of cancers. Mohammad has been responding very well to the treatment protocol. He requires a total two year treatment. For the first six months, he requires to undergo intensive therapy where he will require to stay in hospital or keep in and out of it intermittently. After six months, he will require to come in once every week for oral chemotherapy.”

The total cost of treatment for the two-year course is approximately Dh250,000 and the distraught father has no idea how he will organise the funds. “I checked in the third week of November, the hospital bills stood at Dh108,000. With my limited salary how am I going to meet this expense?”

Sagheer and his wife have been virtually living at the hospital to be with their son and only go home to change clothes. They have been running to charities appealing for help. “So far I have had only one charity come forward and promise me an amount of Dh20,000, but that too is yet to come. My little boy was so full of life and so chirpy, he never fell ill and now he has lost all his hair. It is so difficult for us to see him like this. Both of us fervently pray to Almighty that somehow he has mercy upon our son and saves his life,” said Sagheer with tears in his eyes.