|
Hadassah
University Medical Center in Jerusalem has agreed to
perform a life-saving bone marrow transplant on a
five-year-old Iraqi Kurd boy, The Jerusalem Post has
learned.
The boy, Diyar al-Jaff, is the only child of a
couple who lived through the 1988 chemical weapons
attacks on Halabja in northern Iraq that killed
thousands of people and caused serious illnesses in
the survivors.
Prof. Shimon Slavin, chairman of Hadassah's
department of bone marrow transplantation and cancer
immunotherapy and a world-renowned innovator in the
field, received permission from management to accept
the child for treatment for his acute leukemia if
the family and supporters can raise $127,000. This
is a 30-percent reduction in Hadassah's regular fee
for foreign patients.
If paid in advance, the money would cover treatment
for as long as it takes for Jaff to recover. His
parents had to sell all their possessions to flee
with their son to Jordan to seek help outside Iraq.
With their son at the King Hussein Cancer Center in
Amman, they are trying to raise $10,000 to bring him
to Jerusalem for preliminary examinations and
preparations, find lodging near the hospital and
cover their basic living expenses for the first few
months.
Slavin has written to the Israeli Embassy in Amman,
asking officials to facilitate the family's visa
process if they can find funding.
The parents, Serwan and Susan al-Jaff, told Slavin:
"Our family suffered so much during the last years.
We lost many of our family; all we have in this
world is our son. A few months ago, we discovered
that our son is ill with a very dangerous disease,
myelodysplastic leukemia. After many blood tests, we
were told that the only treatment for him is a bone
morrow transplant from his brother or sister – but
since he is an only child, the only way is to take
him to another country that has special bone marrow
banks."
They chose Slavin's unit for the procedure since,
they were told, there was no time to search the
world's bone marrow registries for a perfect match.
Thus the only alternative is to transplant
"mismatched" allogeneic stem cells from his mother.
This procedure is carried out successfully and
routinely in only a few medical centers in the
world, including Hadassah, and certainly nowhere
else in the Middle East.
The Jaffs, although they are highly qualified
professionals (a mechanical engineer and computer
scientist at the university level, respectively), do
not have health insurance and cannot afford to pay
for treatment on their own.
Susan lost a baby not long ago in her seventh month
of pregnancy, and underwent difficult surgery in
Amal Hospital in Jordan. Slavin told the Post that
his department was always crowded and had limited
resources, but that he would find a bed for the
child and offer the best possible treatment if
funding could be obtained.
A voluntary organization based in Massachusetts
called Peace Vision Project, established last
October with the aim of helping wounded and ill
Iraqi civilians, including refugees, who need
immediate medical treatment and rehabilitation,
received a plea for help from the parents and
contacted Hadassah. Jane Cadarette and Stuart
Leiderman at Peace Vision Project (POB 584, North
Andover, Massachusetts 01845 US; tel. 978-686-5777
and e-mail peacevisionproject@att.net) are trying to
help.
Cadarette, of Massachusetts, and Leiderman, of New
Hampshire, set up the organization to help a badly
injured Iraqi woman who they thought might qualify
for treatment in the US. Now the non-profit
organization is trying to assist some of the large
numbers of civilian refugees wounded and fleeing the
war in Iraq who urgently need medical treatment and
rehabilitation.
"We do not have a ready source of funds for such
costly procedures. But the Halabja connection and
the opportunity for a successful
Kurdish-Israeli-American cooperation to save a young
life are compelling reasons for us to make a special
effort to find contributors," Leiderman told the
Post.
Israel - Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com
Top |
® 