Saturday, April 28, 2007

Save Asma from cancer



Asma is 5 year old girl in Sylhet, Bangladesh. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on 18th January, 2007 by doctors at Osmani Medical College Hospital in Sylhet.
Her doctors advised her parents to take her abroad for Bone marrow transplantation since it is not done in Bangladesh. But unfortunately her parents cannot even afford to take her to Dhaka for more accurate diagnosis, let alone take her abroad.
Asma's father Angur Mia sells tea on the roadside for living and makes very little money.
Because of lack of funds, she is currently getting chemotheraphy at the hospital and does not stand a chance to live much longer without Bone Marrow transplantation.

I came to know about Asma from Bangladeshi bloggers and contacted one of the stduents at ShahJalal University of Science and Technology - Mrinal Sarker - who is trying to help raise fund for her treatment.
Through Mrinal, I made phone contact with Asma's physician Dr. Iftekhar-Ul-Haque Khan and came to know about Asma's current condition. You can see the copies of Asma's diagnosis and reports from the links which Dr. Iftekhar provided.

Asma needs to be moved to Dhaka for better treatment and sent to a hospital abroad from there.
The nearest country that has hospitals that can do bone marrow transplant is in India. The cost of bone marrow transplantation in India is expected to run around $20000 and treatment expenses in Dhaka is expected to run about $3000. These are approximate figures and actual cost will depend on where she will get her Bone marrow transplant treatment. With this in mind, we are asking you to Donate generously.
The other possibility is if any hospital or organazition in the US or another country is kind enough to provide Asma's treatment free - that would be the best solution.
If you have any ideas about this please let us know. I am in the process of contacting some research hospitals to see if they can help.

You can contact Asma's physician Dr. Iftekhar directly if you want to know about her condition but I found phone communication to Bangladesh is not good at the moment, at least not to Sylhet.
In any case, I and Mrinal will post updates on Asma's condition in this blog from time to time.

Please donate money generously for her treatment using the link on the side bar
The donated money will be used towards Asma's treatment in consultation with her physician and her parents. I will update on status of collected money in this blog regularly.

You can also send money to Asma's father's bank account directly if you wish:
Account Holder name: Angur Mia
Account number: 4112038171300
BIC Code: ABBLBDDH112
Institution name: ARAB BANGLADESH BANK LIMITED
Branch name: (MADHUBAN SUPER MARKET BRANCH)
Sylhet
Bangladesh

Please remember Asma's condition is not good and she needs Bone marrow transplantation as soon as possible.
Her future depends on your generosity and kindness.