Rilek1Corner

Tag: donations

  • 15 Year Old Battling Leukaemia Needs Your Help

    15 Year Old Battling Leukaemia Needs Your Help

    My name is Nickson, and this is my story. Just like any teenager, I am an active 15 years old boy, with my bright future in front of me and filled with zest of life ahead of me. I have always been leading an active lifestyle, and an avid basketball player and I even qualified for a slot for Singapore Youth Basketball Team. Life was truly amazing for me!

    However, on a fateful day on September 2015, I collapsed at home due to high fever and after several tests, doctors revealed that I’m is suffering from an aggressive form of leukaemia. My world came tumbling down, and not sure what to think for a 15 years old.

    Thereafter, we seek medical attention from both KK Hospital and NUH, specialising in childhood leukaemia. I underwent chemotherapy and I harvested my father’s bone marrow in the hope for a full recovery in Sep 2016 in which I suffered a relapse just 3 months later which is in Nov 2016. After the relapse, my father’s cell was subsequently harvested to support the treatment of my leukaemia while searching for a compatible unrelated donor.

    During the interim while looking for a compatible donor, we will have to repeat the harvesting of my father’s cells and the usage of a German drug by the name of Blinatumomab in order to stabilise my condition. The drug, Blinatumomab, cost about roughly SGD $220,000 in which is infused into the body over a period of one month. I am lucky to be insured under insurance for all treatments I’m doing in Singapore but for any procedures, various blood tests and treatments that my father is doing in order to harvest his cells to me (or if there’s any matching donors) insurance or Medisave doesn’t cover them and we’ve to pay solely in cash.

    However, the doctors in Singapore recommend us to seek treatment for in Seattle Hospital in USA, as it is the only place in the world for cell therapy and there are already two successful proven cases who have returned back to Singapore with full recovery results.

    All the health insurance in Singapore can only cover local treatments, and not overseas treatment. The deposit for the hospital in Seattle requires a minimum of SGD $700,000, and my parents were at the complete shock and lost in their thoughts upon hearing the treatment cost, and it’s way beyond our means.

    As parents, I know they want their children to be healthy, and if there’s anything wrong with us, they will always seek the best possible treatment for us. We’re not sure if we can find any unrelated donors at this stage, but the possibility of me recovering through cell therapy is high, and we’re sincerely urging your kind helping hand and generosity to help my parents to lessen the burden and fundraise for my treatment.

     

    My father is the sole breadwinner of the family, and my mom has become a full-time housewife in order to take care of me and my brother.

    My life is not even half way through and the option for the cell therapy there is by far the most feasible and effective option for my full recovery. Results were already proven with two patients having gone there for the similar treatments and came back with very good results leading to a complete recovery from the dreadful disease. The cure that best fits my stubborn persistent leukaemia is only available in Seattle.

    I and my family can never thank you enough in helping us for this fund raising for my treatment in the States and our family will forever be indebted to all the help and support we have received. Thank you so much for all the kind assistance rendered and we wish all good health.

    Please help me to fight this leukemia so that I can continue walk the path in front of me. No amount is too small and we thank you again for your kind generosity.

    Nickson Yee

     

    Source: https://give.asia

  • Mother Battling With Cancer Appeals For Donations

    Mother Battling With Cancer Appeals For Donations

    My name is Chek Ming. I am 46 years old. I want to tell you my story and ask for your help. My life has been a struggle for the past few years but I am consoled as I have a 5-year old son. He is my greatest pride and joy, and also the reason I’m asking for help.

    I am a Stage 4 cancer patient (metastatic clear cell ovarian carcinoma) who desperately needs to raise over $139,000 annually to get access to immunotherapy, which is not a subsidised cancer treatment and it is out of reach for subsidised patients like me.

    I am also fast running out of time, having endured 2 years of debilitating chemotherapy, using various other cancer drugs, to no avail, having now reached fourth-line treatment stage using the last available drug. Those conventional cancer drugs have failed to stop the rapid spread of the disease from Stage 1c to Stage 4. I am now suffering from incremental and severe stabbing pains in my right chest and arm due to inflamed axillary lymph nodes surrounding the front of my heart and embedded in my chest.

    It all happened when I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer called “Ovarian Clear Cell Carcinoma”, that occurs in only 5% of ovarian cancer sufferers. As such, hardly any research has been done on this type of cancer.

    I underwent major surgery on 6th April 2015 to remove a huge 12.5 cm ovarian cyst, my womb, ovaries, Fallopian tubes, cervix, omentum, appendix and 29 lymph nodes when ultrasound scans and CA125 cancer marker blood tests indicated high possibility of ovarian cancer. The diagnosis of ovarian cancer was confirmed when the diseased ovarian cyst was sent to the lab for frozen section.

    Subsequently, I started chemotherapy on 21st May 2015, receiving Carboplatin and Paclitaxel chemotherapy for 6 cycles every 3 weeks as my medical oncologist said that it is an aggressive cancer (clear cell type) and is likely to come back despite surgery. At that time, I was told that I had Stage 1c ovarian clear cell cancer – i.e. the cancerous ovarian cyst had been leaking cancerous fluid into the surrounding tissues.

    Despite the side effects, I persevered through this chemotherapy in the hope that I can survive to raise my son. I will do anything for him. Being 3 years old at the time, he did not know much. But, he saw me lose my hair, vomit, lying in bed unwell for hours and could not play with him – he could not comprehend or understand the reasons.

    I thought it was all over and I can go back to lead a normal life. Then, the unthinkable happened. On the 21st September 2015, my medical oncologist suggested that I undergo another CT scan for a routine check-up after my chemotherapy (immediately after I finished my chemotherapy that same month).

    The doctor told me it is now impossible to either operate or cure since the cancer has resurged aggressively to Stage 4 in such a short amount of time. My heart sank. I need more treatments but any treatment now is not curative. The doctor told me any treatment now is merely palliative.

    I am a single parent and the sole-breadwinner. Oftentimes, I skip meals in order to save up enough money to feed my son proper meals, as he was born prematurely and underweight. I have met many kind people but the amount of help that I need is more than what my normal acquaintances can help.

    I live in a small, barebones, 45-sqm, HDB flat (1 bedroom, 1 hall). I have sold off everything that I can sell, in order to survive month-to-month.

    Unfortunately, I have no private health insurance and I am not covered under the CPF Dependent Protection Scheme. Hence, I am thankful to all the NUH Doctors, Nurses, Radiologists, Therapists, Counter Staff, Support Staff and Medical Social Workers for their kindness and support. As a subsidised patient, I am grateful to the Singapore Government and the National University Hospital of Singapore for MediShield Life, the NUH medical assistance fund (for Avastin) and the medical bill subsidy by Medifund, which does not cover all bills.

    I hope that your donation would be able to help me to pay for my family’s medical bills; basic necessities; household bills; journeys to/from hospital (because I am unsteady on my feet nowadays due to neuropathy and blood pressure is low); some nutritious fresh foods; bank debts left behind in my name by an abusive estranged spouse (who left the country several years ago and no contact); and daily living expenses, during these dark days, and even more so when my condition deteriorates and require hospice care; coming funeral expenses; and to set aside sufficient cash reserve for my poor mother to sustain herself and enable her to care for my young son when I pass on, as they will be in urgent need in the many years to come. Thank you in advance for all donations.

    The cost for immunotherapy treatment amounts to approximately $139,000 a year. The medicine is administered every 3 weeks.

    The medicine costs between $6,500 and $8,000 per dose, depending on the type administered. There are usually pre-medications that need to be administered too, prior to each dose of the immunotherapy medicine but I do not know the cost for these pre-medications at this point in time.

    My doctor tells me that the 5-year survival rate for this cancer is not good and I am unlikely to survive very long given that this is an aggressive, chemo-resistant cancer and it is now at Stage 4. Yet, I need to survive this fight for my life, for at least another few more years in order to stay with my son. He is just too young to lose his mom.

    I am appealing out of desperation as I have exhausted all my social connections and charity appeals. I have sold off anything that is of value in my small flat.

    Please help me. Any help, no matter how big or small, will make a big difference to me and my son.

    Thank you all kindly.

     

    Besides GIVE, we have received SGD 74,257.50 from other sources.

    Source: https://give.asia

  • Police Warn Of Impersonators Forcibly Seeking Donations

    Police Warn Of Impersonators Forcibly Seeking Donations

    Walking to Punggol MRT Station after school, she was surrounded by three men who looked like they were in their late teens outside the station’s entrance.

    They claimed to be from the Criminal Investigation Department and demanded donations.

    Nothing less than $10 would do.

    But the Secondary One student from Peicai Secondary School was unconvinced.

    They looked like gangsters, she recalled, and stared at them before walking away without giving a cent.

    In the past week, messages have been circulating about the men demanding money from students and the elderly from various places like Lavender and Boon Lay MRT stations, Nex shopping mall at Serangoon Central and Tampines Bus Interchange.

    Parents took to Facebook to post about their children’s encounters with the men at various MRT stations across the island.

    The New Paper (TNP) was at Punggol MRT station yesterday, where the suspects had been seen canvassing for donations, and saw police officers patrolling the area.

    The student, who was at the station, told TNP: “I knew the men were lying. They didn’t look like real policemen.”

    On Thursday, the Police posted an advisory on their Facebook page saying they were looking into reports of people forcibly seeking donations in public.

    They added: “The Singapore Police Force would like to clarify that we do not seek donations.”

    They said only those with a valid licence issued by them or the National Council of Social Services can ask for donations.

    Offenders can be fined up to $5,000 or jailed up to two years or both.

    The police added anyone who impersonates a public servant can be jailed up to two years, or fined, or both.

    Another student, from a nearby secondary school, told TNP her friend had also been approached by three men outside Punggol MRT station.

    They showed her a certificate, claimed they were soliciting donations to help ex-convicts and demanded at least $10.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • Backlash In Indonesia Over Ramadan Raid On Frail Auntie, Over $20,000 Donations Raised

    Backlash In Indonesia Over Ramadan Raid On Frail Auntie, Over $20,000 Donations Raised

    JAKARTA: Indonesian netizens have reacted with fury and a flurry of donations after footage emerged of a frail food seller breaking down as her cafe was raided for staying open during the daytime in Ramadan.

    Video of the 53-year-old business owner desperately begging officials not to confiscate her food went viral at the weekend, and social media users have donated almost $20,000 to a crowdfunding site to help her and other vendors.

    It is common for food outlets in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country that remain open during the daytime in the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are supposed to fast from sunrise to sunset, to be raided.

    But the case of food seller Saeni, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, has touched a nerve, with many criticising authorities for being heavy-handed during the raid in Serang, west of the capital Jakarta.

    “You should be tolerant towards those who are not fasting, cruel authorities,” wrote Facebook user Elisabeth Oktofani.

    The food seller was deeply in debt and so had decided to keep the cafe open during daylight hours to make extra cash, she was quoted by local media as saying.

    President Joko Widodo condemned the raid and ordered his staff to make a personal donation, with his spokesman saying that the action “cannot be justified”.

    In the footage, a group of public order officers, who assist police in maintaining order but have fewer powers, march into the small food outlet, which consisted of a few goods in a glass case and some shabby chairs and tables.

    Saeni, wearing a blue Muslim headscarf, begs them not to take the food but they put it into plastic bags and march off.

    Local authorities defended the raid, saying that the food seller was breaking the law. While many restaurants in bigger cities stay open throughout Ramadan, local bylaws in smaller places often forbid vendors to sell food during the daytime.

    A crowdfunding campaign launched in response to Friday’s raid has raised over 265 million rupiah ($19,900), with the organisers planning to distribute the money to Saeni and other food sellers targeted for staying open during daylight hours in Ramadan.

    Most Indonesians practise a moderate form of Islam, but the country is also home to a vocal, hardline fringe.

     

    Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com

  • Mercy Relief – Nepal Earthquake Relief 2015

    Mercy Relief – Nepal Earthquake Relief 2015

    It is official! Mercy Relief deploys to quake-hit Kathmandu to ascertain ground needs and procure initial batch of relief supplies. MR will dedicate an initial tranche of SG$60,000 to acute relief efforts. Our focus will be to address the pressing needs for shelter, medicine, food, water and hygiene kits.

    For more information,visit:
    http://www.mercyrelief.org/web/Contents/Contents.aspx…

    To donate: http://mercyrelief.org/donate/?page_id=180

    For other ways you can help, initiating your own fundraising activities etc, please contact us at [email protected]

    ‪#‎prayfornepal‬

     

    Source: Mercy Relief