Call for help: Minor cancer patient needs liver transplant to survive

Parents have sought assistance from donors to finance the treatment.

HARIPUR:

Riddled with cancer, a minor girl is in dire need of healthcare facilities that her family cannot afford.

Four-year-old Ameesha Hafeez was diagnosed with liver cancer two years back when she complained of frequent urination, insomnia and swelling in the belly.

When she developed symptoms, her worried father, Hafeez, a daily wage labourer, took her to a private clinic in Mansehra and later to the DHQ hospital but the doctors could not diagnose her illness.

When her condition deteriorated, he took her to Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad where she was admitted for over a month. After her biopsy from Shaukat Khanum Hospital, she was referred to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences where the doctors told the family that Ameesha has cancer and needs a liver transplant.

“It felt like a bolt from the blue when they told me there are very few liver transplant facilities in Pakistan and that she would need to be taken to India or China,” said Hafeez.  Surviving on Rs200 daily wage, he cannot even afford the travel, let alone the treatment cost.

Desperate to help save their daughter’s life, Hafeez and his wife have exhausted all their resources and have fallen into debt. Still, they are unsure if their daughter will survive. As a last resort, they have sought the help of donors to finance his daughter’s liver transplant, which may save her life. The blonde-haired Ameesha is the second oldest of four siblings.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2012.