A different ballgame

The greatest source of joy in nine-year-old Abdullah's life is the new Ford Focus car he was given in December 2009. For some people a car may just be a means to commute, for many it becomes a coveted symbol of luxury, and for yet others it is a personality statement. But for Abdullah it is a miracle he prayed for very fervently. The long wait at bus stops, the heat during the journey, the rides back home clamping down on the rising pain and the nausea he experienced every time he travelled over 200km each trip from his home in Sharjah to Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi - everything seems so manageable now.

Abdullah was seven years old when the nerve-wrecking pain he suffered in his right eye was diagnosed as cancer. His mother refused to have it excised as she could not bear to see her son without an eye. But the little boy had lost his vision as his optic nerve was irreparably damaged. He had to undergo surgery in the US and returned to the UAE to continue his chemotherapy in Abu Dhabi.

After every chemo session the bus journey back home was an ordeal. He would feel sick and miserable, his small body shuddering in pain as his mother who accompanied him felt helpless. The two braved the journey together, week after week and that was when Abdullah wished he could get a car "that would take us to Abu Dhabi and bring happiness to my mother and help me take my family together for some outings," says the diminutive boy. Today he beams with pride and happiness as the owner of the car thanks to the Oil Baron's Ball 2009. Not just that, one of the oil barons, John Alison, pledged to keep the car on the road and looks after its fuel and maintenance costs.

With the gift of a car, Abdullah is proud that his family of seven can now travel in comfort. Wearing his dark glasses and smiling from ear to ear he waves out to all and sundry as he travels in his car and declares: "When I grow up, I want to be a policeman and protect my country!"

Since 2007, the Oil Baron's Ball has been fulfilling the wishes of young cancer survivors, bringing many smiles and a ray of sunshine into their lives. To date 15 children have had their wishes granted.

How does a high-profile ball for the rich and famous in the oil industry turn into one of the biggest fundraisers of the UAE? Founder of the Ball, Eileen Michael attributes everything to a coincidence triggered by several fortunate and unfortunate accidents.

Michael has been in the Middle East since 1992. In 2003, when a big exhibition she was planning was cancelled, Michael had to think on her feet. "Very quickly, I came up with the idea of the Ball," she says. The title was inspired by the popular title for one of the seasons of Dallas, a famous American soap opera of the 1970s. The first-ever event was held in Abu Dhabi. Since then it has been also held in Dubai. Today, it has become one of the much-awaited events in the UAE's energy sector.

"From a thousand invitees, our guest list grew to 2,000 and in 2008 we had 2,650 guests. It got bigger and bigger and had a very affluent branding, being attended by all the movers and shakers of the energy industry. I recall, standing on the balcony during the 2004 event and looking at the size of the audience. That's when I thought, ‘So many affluent people and their power coming together. It can actually do so much to reach out to the sick and the needy.' I said to myself there has to be a feel-good factor to this event," recalls Michael.

But as life would have it, her first epiphany was followed by a sad event in her family. "I lost my brother Ian to bowel cancer in 2007. He was 53. One tries everything in one's power to save a loved one. Ian died at a time when he was trying out stem cell treatment. The pain and suffering of those he left behind was something that really moved me to do something for other people going through the same ordeal. As today's medical statistics stand, one in three people is likely to get cancer. While there's not much we can do to scale down the statistics, we can help those with cancer and their families cope with the ordeal. I wanted to help by providing them logistics support to get by every day."

The idea of integrating charity with the Oil Baron's Ball was ready to be turned into reality.

In 2007 when the charity was initiated, Michael fulfilled the wishes of five children from Make-A-Wish Foundation. After that Michael met Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade and a patron for the Sharjah-based charity organisation, Friend's of Cancer Patients (FOCP).

The organisation was trying to provide logistics, financial, medical and moral support to poor families that were struggling to deal with the emotional and financial toll of cancer. In 2008, there was the 11-year-old Mustafa suffering from leukaemia, who had to travel by taxi everyday from Sharjah to Al Tawam hospital in Al Ain for his treatment. Such was his mental distress that he feared the mere sight of a taxi and his mother, who accompanied him for the treatments, was struggling with the high cost of travel. When he was given a car he was overjoyed.

Six-year-old Zahra, suffering from liver cancer since birth, couldn't keep up with her school activities. She was given a laptop and a school fee waiver for a year.

Recounts Michael: "There was another little girl suffering from cancer whose father had lost his job and we paid their house rent. The FOCP basically looks after the rent, food, clothing and other needs of families who have a member suffering from cancer. We are here to help. The happiness that the event spreads among the children is enough to keep me going for the rest of my life. Last year another set of five cancer survivors from FOCP got their wishes fulfilled. We raised more than Dh500,000 through silent auctions and donations by some of our guests and all of it goes towards helping these patients. I am glad that with the passing of each year, as the event matures, its capacity to help expands."

A visit to the Sharjah-based FOCP office gave me a chance to share the happiness of these children. Three of the five children I had come to meet were prancing about on the lawns, soaking up the warm sunshine. Abdullah, 9, suffering from eye cancer, Marwa Mohammad, 10, suffering from leukaemia, needing a bone marrow transplant and Maisa Mohammad Khalil, 13, suffering from kidney cancer. The other two girls, Abeer, 10, suffering from brain cancer and Falah, 6, suffering from skin cancer, are weak, their parents didn't want them to face any more exertion than necessary.

Maisa, who hails from Jordan, was barely nine when she used to suffer from inexplicable abdominal pain. Her paediatrician, Dr Altaf Jamil diagnosed it as kidney cancer. Today Maisa who is in Grade 8 at Safeer School in Fujairah, hopes of becoming a paediatrician one day. "I want to help little children and be like Dr Jamil. If he hadn't helped me, I would have never known about the cancer," she says. Maisa had hoped for a pink-cased laptop and when she got it, she was ecstatic, says her mother.

Marwa's parents who hail from Pakistan had exhausted most of their funds in her treatment before they came to FOCP for help. It was difficult for them to keep the little girl in school as they could hardly afford fees for all their children.

Marwa, a student of class four at the Happy Home School in Sharjah, loves her red uniform and wished that someone would help her parents pay the school fees. At the Oil Baron's Ball 2009, her wish was granted. Her fees for the whole year was paid up. Marwa is continuing with her treatment and requires a bone marrow transplant. Her parents have a donor but are trying to raise funds for her surgery. Marwa says, "I love small children, when I grow up I want to be a kindergarten teacher so that I can play with them."

Says Dr Sawsan Abdul Salam Al Mahdhi, who manages the day-to-day running of the charity, "FOCP is a voluntary, charity-based foundation that was established in accordance with the directives of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. It is chaired by Her Highness Shaikha Jawaher Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, Chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs and wife of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah.

"We're grateful to receive help from the Oil Baron's Ball fundraising events. Our organisation helps adults and children with cancer. People of all nationalities are eligible for help and support in their treatment and any aid they might require or subsistence.

"We provide food aid for families in need, send patients abroad if they require treatment there, organise trips and fun activities for patients and their families, provide prosthetic limbs and medical equipment as well as sponsoring patients for Haj and Umrah trips.

"We are a large and extended family for all the patients who come to us. I personally feel very distressed to see children suffering. I am glad that we have found help from a charity like the Oil Baron's Ball that has been helping us fulfil the wishes of our young cancer survivors.

"The gifts not only make the children feel loved, but the happiness plays an important role in their healing as they feel so positive. We had a young boy who was given a laptop before Eid by the Oil Baron's Ball. He was so overjoyed by his gift that when he went in for his next treatment for leukaemia, they found he didn't require treatment any more. He made an amazing recovery!

"I wish all these children could get healed miraculously. I take solace in the fact that their families have not had to struggle to keep up with their rent, treatment charges or transport costs. At least there is someone to mitigate their suffering and help them through this difficult period."

This is the kind of mission that gains meaning in being an ongoing one. Unfortunately, as statistics show, there is always room for more kindness, reaching out and being there for people who need support in one form or the other.

The Oil Baron's Ball

This is the Middle East's homegrown event for the energy sector and since its inception seven years ago, has grown to be one of the much-awaited events in the corporate social calendar as well as a major charity fundraiser since 2007. Last year Dh500,000 was raised for the Friend's of Cancer Patients (FOCP). The Oil Baron's Ball has gone global and is being held in Aberdeen (Scotland), Calgary (Canada), Houston (US) and Perth (Australia). Eileen Michael is happy that what started as a modest social event has turned into a big means of support, assistance and crucial financial aid and has also become an international platform to further its aim.