Jordanian toddler heads to Dubai for $2.4m treatment funded by Sheikh Mohammed

Dubai: A 16-month-old Jordanian girl with spinal muscular atrophy left Amman for Dubai on Saturday to begin treatment funded in full by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Katia Abu Al Saud travelled with her mother, Nour Roudnahal, from Queen Alia International Airport and is due to receive treatment at Al Jalila Children’s Hospital.

Her mother posted a photograph of the pair at the airport on Instagram, thanking Sheikh Mohammed for stepping in after the family appealed publicly for help. 

The treatment is expected to cost about $2.4 million, or Dh8.8 million, a sum far beyond the family’s means. Doctors in Jordan had told the family that the therapy Katia needs was not available locally, prompting her mother to turn to social media in search of assistance. 

Dubai Media Office announced on Aug. 20 that Sheikh Mohammed would cover the cost of Katia’s treatment and that it would be provided at Al Jalila Children’s Hospital. The announcement brought an abrupt change to a family that had spent months worrying about whether it could secure treatment in time. 

Katia has spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, a rare genetic condition that causes progressive muscle weakness. She is expected to receive Zolgensma, a one-time gene therapy used to treat young children with SMA. 

Her father, Omar Abu Al Saud, previously said that Sheikh Mohammed’s intervention is restoring hope to the family after a long period of anxiety, saying it had given his daughter a new chance to receive the treatment she needs.