Save Saba: Campaign for Pak Teen With Rare Disease Gains Momentum
Online campaign to save Pakistani teen with rare disease gains momentum in India.
The firing along the border escalated tensions between India and Pakistan over the weekend, but far from the frontier, some Indians managed to garner support for a Pakistani teenager battling a rare disease in a Mumbai hospital.
15-year-old Saba from Karachi is battling rare Wilson’s disease that causes too much copper to accumulate in the liver, brain and other vital organs. The accumulation can reach life threatening levels.
Earlier this year, ‘The Bluebells Community’ came across Saba Ahmed, who was then being treated at Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital. Community member Shabia Walia raised Rs. 7 lakh for her treatment.
Saba’s condition deteriorated after her return to Pakistan.
The Times of India reports that Saba’s mother Nazia has managed to get a medical visa for Saba to visit Mumbai again.
A new online appeal on BitGiving has been initiated by Shabia Walia with the aim to raise Rs. 10 lakh.
We want a young life to be saved and also pass the message that borders might divide people, but love unites them. A child on either side of the border deserves the right to live, irrespective of which country he/she is being treated.
— BitGiving appeal
When Saba came to us the first time around, there was excess copper deposit in her brain. She couldn’t walk without support and could barely speak or swallow anything. It’s important to monitor the medicines regularly or change them depending on the symptom that the patient is suffering.
— Dr Aabha Nagral of Jaslok Hospital to Times of India.
By late Monday morning, 23 contributors donated a total of Rs. 53,301.
The ‘Save Saba’ campaign has another 29 days to raise the required Rs 10,00,000. Words of support are already coming in.
You can sign up for the campaign here.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)