Dubai: In January this year, Shahad, a nine-year-old Syrian girl living in Dubai, started suffering from severe headaches. Her parents took her to a hospital and the Computerised Tomography scan (CT scan) showed a big tumour in her brain.

Since January, Shahad has undergone multiple surgeries, one where the tumour was partially removed and others later to alleviate the pressure of the tumour on her brain. After the first surgery, Shahd had chemo and radio therapy that helped her with the cancer but weakened her immune system, so doctors stopped the treatment in July. She was being treated at Tawam Hospital in Abu Dhabi.

Shahad’s parents contacted many centres around the world, and managed to identify a doctor in Germany who specialises in cases similar to Shahad’s.

But financial limitations have led to delaying Shahad’s trip to undergo surgery in Germany and slowed down her recovery.

Eight volunteers working through Dubai-based “Climb for Cancer” have volunteered to raise awareness as well as funds needed for Shahad’s treatment by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro on November 28.

Founded in 2009, Climb For Cancer is a non-profit initiative that encourages hikers and adventure enthusiasts to climb mountain peaks around the world in an effort to raise awareness for children suffering from cancer.

Mustafa Mroueh, who is leading the challenge to Kilimanjaro, said, “I have been planning to climb Kilimanjaro for a couple of years now, but always delaying it to accommodate pressing daily matters. This year I decided to make it a priority, so I approached my friend Nizar Fakhoury, founder of Climb for Cancer, and expressed my interest in leading a challenge to Kilimanjaro.”

He said that after extensive research and discussions with like-minded individuals including Fakhoury, he started organising the logistics along with the fund-raising campaign.

“We reached out to Friends of Cancer Patients, a registered UAE charity organisation, and informed them of our willingness to support UAE-based cancer patients, so they linked us to Shahad…who requires an immediate operation in Germany.” Mroueh said.

He said that they held multiple charity events and all the proceeds went directly towards Shahad’s treatment. They also set up an online donation page on a fund-raising website, and approached companies and partners for donation packages and gave them media exposure in return.

People who want to help can go to the fund-raising page on http://www.zoomaal.com/projects/climbforshahad/1288 and donate online or transfer money directly to Friends Of Cancer Patients mentioning “Climb For Cancer” in the description, Mroueh said.

“Climb For Cancer do not request any registration fees for their trips, all the team members paid their own expenses, ensuring that every donation received went directly to Friends Of Cancer patients to treat Shahad.” Mroueh noted.

This year’s challenge will be the fourth in a row for Climb for Cancer. In 2010 a team of six volunteers climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. In 2011 12 volunteers scaled Everest Base Camp and Island Peak and in 2012 three climbers took to Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe.