Generous gift from ‘stranger’ could save Sarah-Jean’s life

Generous gift from ‘stranger’ could save Sarah-Jean’s life Sarah Young / 21 June 2013 A generous last-minute gift from a person who wishes to remain anonymous in the UAE will see an Abu-Dhabi girl get the life-saving operation she needs. Sarah-Jean Masinas, 20, who lives in Abu Dhabi, has Acute Myleoid Leukemia (AML), and requires a bone-marrow transplant. After a year of searching for a donor, she finally found a match through a hospital in Sweden — but the operation came with a Dh900,000 price tag, and a time limit. Her parents, who earn Dh7,000 between them a month, have been fundraising for months to find the amount before they meet with the Swedish Embassy on June 23 to seek a visa. Given the aggressive nature of her cancer, and the fact her body cannot take any more chemotherapy, the operation must go ahead in early July when the donor is ready. Her mother, Rosalie Masinas, was overjoyed on Thursday to find out they had reached their target, thanks to a charity auction earlier this week which raised Dh46,000 — and a mysterious auction-goer who pledged to donate any remaining dirhams needed to reach the total. This donation turned out to be a generous Dh61,500, she said. The family had also raised Dh14,000 through the online donation site http://www.youcaring.com/ since a Khaleej Times article about her daughter’s plight was published on June 17, Masinas said. “I was so excited. I don’t know how to describe it, but I’m really, really happy. I just want to thank everyone so much. When they transferred the remaining amount, I was really crying. I was just so relieved. And maybe I will be crying again in the second week of July, if we get the visa and it can go ahead.” Masinas said her daughter had been shocked, and kept asking if it was really true. “She couldn’t believe it, either. She was crying, too.” Sarah-Jean was diagnosed with AML in 2010 when she returned to her home-country of the Philippines to study radiology. She was treated with chemotherapy in the UAE and the illness went into remission, but returned last year and doctors have said a transplant is the only option left. Dubai resident Zeina Naim was the driver behind the The Gramercy’s Charity Auction Night hosted by Virgin Radio’s DJ Kris Fade on Monday evening. “I found out about Sarah’s case just after trying to help a little girl with the same type of Leukemia, called Lea Joven who unfortunately passed away last November. My friends and I read about Sarah-Jean and since we had some knowledge about charities here who may be able to help, like Friends of Cancer Patients in Sharjah, and a bit about hospitals abroad that do bone marrow transplants we reached out to Sarah’s mom, and started our plight to raise money for Sarah.” sarah@khaleejtimes.com     Taylor Scott International