Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, which I have created to raise money for Helen & Douglas House in memory of my amazing brother Haider Iqbal, by trekking across part of the Great Wall of China!

My brother Haider was born five weeks prematurely with a rare, life-threatening condition, which after much research and investigation was diagnosed as Raine Syndrome. Although doctors highly advised my parents to prepare for the worst, telling them Haider's chances of survival were very low, my amazing brother battled through from day one, defying medical science. While there were many other times in Haider's life when we were told that his ability to completely recover from an operation or an illness was low, by the will of Allah (God), time after time he fought against everything to come back stronger than before.

Although there were many downs in Haider's health and our lives there were also massive ups which are the memories that we cherish now and look back on and remember with so much love. Haider's condition was known as life-threatening but he truly lived his life to the full, enjoying every moment and taking us on his incredible journey with him, with laughter, love and joy. Sadly, Haider passed away and returned to Jannah (Paradise) 3 days before his 13th birthday and just weeks before we were about to go on our first trip to visit Pakistan together as a family, in December 2012. Everything suddenly seemed very empty without him and we were all shocked as to how such an important part of all our lives was no longer with us and I can honestly say that my family's life has not been the same since then, and the past few years have been the hardest ever.

Throughout my brother's life and even now, Helen & Douglas House has been the biggest support system to myself and my family. They have become like a second family and I can honestly say I don't know what we would have done if it wasn't for the support and care of the incredible staff at HDH. We first visited Helen House when Haider was just 8 months old and he had just left hospital after his birth and it was also the place where he took his last breath. We have experienced every emotion possible at HDH throughout the years and I always look back at the times when I was younger and would play in the garden on the bikes, while Haider would be sat cracking jokes with the staff and other children, as well as Haider's last day, when HDH were so accommodating to our religious and personal beliefs and views and made what was the hardest time for us, somewhat better. Since December 2012, HDH helped my parents, my younger brother and myself through counselling, support groups and activity days and have been so understanding, even 5 years on.

I really want to take some time now to give back to HDH and everything they have done for us and I thought what better way than to jump straight in the deep end with trekking part of the Great Wall of China! I can picture Haider laughing at the thought of this already(!) but I know he loved HDH and he would be so happy about this. 

This past December marked 5 years since my brothers death and also marked what would have been his 18th birthday so I feel like this is the perfect time to do this. He absolutely loved adventures and challenges and it’s always something that even to this day inspires me about him, so I really want to take part in this trek in memory of my brother, Haider Iqbal.

I therefore would really appreciate if you can help me to reach my target by donating to HDH and give as much or as little as you possibly can! You can do this by donating through this page, which will send the donation directly to HDH.

Thank you so much in advance!

Nayaab

(Please note: donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.)