Shaikha Manal and Gulf News readers offer to help baby Afra

Dubai: Offers of help have been pouring in since Gulf News reported on the case of a ten-month-old baby girl who risks losing her sight unless she has immediate surgery.

Afra Ebrahim, who was born into a poor Arab family, was diagnosed with leukocoria (white pupil) in her left eye. Doctors at Tawam Hospital say the main problem is that she has retinoblastoma, a rapidly developing cancer, in 60 to 70 per cent of the two-thirds of her eye.

Dubai Health Authority is now in talks with a hospital in the UK as Shaikha Manal Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Women’s Establishment, has offered to take care of all the expenses of Afra’s treatment in the UK.

Afra’s parents work for Sharjah Police.

Shiraz Kassam, chairman and managing director of the Chelsea Group, said that Afra’s story touched his heart and he felt that he should give her family a helping hand.

“We are donating Dh25,000 for baby Afra and we are ready to pay for the family’s accommodation in the UK during the child’s treatment,” said Kassam.

He said that he was also ready to pay for the family’s tickets to the UK.

“It is our job as human beings to help each other and I hope that the baby will get her health back soon,” said Kassam.

“We thank Gulf News for giving us the opportunity to help others,” he said.

The family of the late Abdul Gargash has also donated towards the child’s treatment.

Many other Gulf News readers said they were moved when they read Afra’s story and wanted to donate money to help her.

Afra’s mother said she started to notice tears in Afra’s eyes a month ago, although she was not crying. She added Afra’s eyes reflected a kind of light in the dark.

“I was worried about my baby, but now I’m overwhelmed because my baby will be fine,” she said.

Afra’s mother, who has no money to treat her baby, was advised to visit Tawam Hospital’s oncology department to seek medication.

Afra’s doctor Stefan Scholtz, consultant, Ophthalmology Division at Tawam Hospital, recommended that Dr Ashwin Reddy of London’s Moorfield Eye Hospital treat Afra.

Afra’s mother previously said with tears in her eyes: “We only have an old car that we are selling but the problem is that it is not even close to help the baby.”

She said that she was very grateful to everyone who had offered to help her daughter.