“Post from Love The One”

”We want you all to meet a very brave and special little boy, Amir. His parents have had some very difficult news today but we as a team are fighting hard. We need your help.

Amir is 4 years old and the only child in the family. He was one of the first children enrolled into EPIC 4 when it opened, our preschool serving the Muslim community where we used to run our weekly free children's clinics. In the summer holidays, Amir started to not feel well. His parents took him to a few different doctors and given different tablets. Then suddenly his right eye began to swell and close and he complained of pain in his legs. Fortunately Amir's mum and dad quickly got in contact with their EPIC team leader, Nilima, who then alerted our clinic team. He was seen quickly and the team realised this was a life threatening illness, sadly most likely a childhood leukaemia. Tests have confirmed that this is definitely Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) - a type of blood cancer.

AML carries a 50% survival rate for his age group and he needs to start chemotherapy as quickly as possible. We have just admitted him onto the Paeds oncology ward now and he will be sedated for his bone marrow biopsy first thing in the morning. Intensive chemotherapy will then begin as we all watch and wait to see if Amir will be in that positive 50% category.

Amir's parents are being very brave as they heard their worst fears confirmed today. Mummy is a stay at home mum, dad works in a shoe shop and earns Rs 6000 per month (£66 per month), he is probably going to lose his job because his son is sick... his only priority right now however is to see his son survive. The hospital treatment has been estimated to cost 3 lakhs (£3,300). Put into perspective that would be the family's total income over 4 years. It is still a 50% chance but we will do everything we can to allow this little boy the right to health care.

Mum and dad know we are sharing his story today and gave us permission to post these pics. Despite their grief they are overwhelmed with gratitude knowing that we are gathering around them as family to do all we can for Amir. “

After a month he will have a bone marrow biopsy to see if he is in remission, if he isn‘t then he will need a bone marrow transplant! The costs for will then treble and we would love your support to ensure that LOVE THE ONE continue their amazing work xx

#donateforAmir #LTOhealthcare #childhoodleukaemia #AML #onechildatatime