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عربي

“Baba, so now I can walk and play with my friends?”
 26/02/2009

The Lady Fâtemah (a.s.) Charitable Trust
September Lodge, Village Way , Little Chalfont,Buckinghamshire , HP7 9PU
February 2009
Abdallah Ali Yassine Medical Support
LFT Donors shall we answer YES to Abdallah Ali?

Project chievements and Realized Progress.
Abdallah Ali Yassine’s case is one of the most heart-touching cases LFT has ever supported, at least within its projects in south Lebanon . Abdallah is six years old and one of the brightest students in his school. His teacher says that he is always asking questions. While at school, many of Ali’s questions are answered to his satisfaction, there is one question he frequently asks his father, and which remains without a satisfying answer. Ali asks this question when waking up from another round of surgery in the hospital recovery room, and the question is:

“Baba, so now I can walk and play with my friends?”
Imagine how hard it is for Abdallah’s father to be compelled to answer each time:
“No, dear, even after all these operations, you won’t be able to run and play.”

It is not that Abdallah can’t play because his parents are so protective and afraid he might get hurt. It is not that he can’t play because he has no friends. Abdallah is very popular among his classmates and they are all waiting for the day when he joins them not only at a game of Dominoes, but also at “hide and seek”.

Abdallah cannot play because he was born without legs. He had surgery repeatedly to remove the muscle masses at the bottom of his little body, so that prostheses can be installed. Under the Lebanese health insurance system, Abdallah’s operations are considered as “cosmetic” and are therefore not covered. His father, who works as a salesman in a shop selling electronic devices has spent all his savings and has even sold the house he inherited from his father in order to pay for Abdallah’s surgeries. Now, his salary is barely enough to provide for his family of four (soon to be five) and he simply cannot afford to spend a further $ 11,000 on Abdallah’s prosthesis.

In desperation, Abdallah’s father applied to a number of NGOs for assistance, but all refused due to the high cost.
“Mr. Abdllah Ali Yassine, a child with bilateral hip disarticulation, is in need of a special child prosthesis, this means a light-weight effective high range device. Especially that he is a bilateral patient.
The cost of the bilateral hip disarticulation prosthesis is: USD 11,100.00.”

With these words, the prosthesis provider answered PADC’s inquiry about the cost of Abdallah’s prosthesis, and continued to explain that due to the high expenditure, several NGOs had already refused to assist.

It is painful to see that the value of a human being’s life is measured in money, and that a child is denied a normal life because “it is not worth the expense”.
As a last attempt, PADC submitted Abdallah’s case to LFT. Here, the response was different: Shortly after submitting the application, PADC was informed that “LFT has already checked with the UK Council of Orthopaedics and their medical opinion is the same as stated in the Lebanese orthopaedic report.”

LFT did not consider the amount of $11,000 too high for giving a normal life to a child and expressed its readiness to cover the full cost of Abdallah’s prosthesis within the frame of its project “Medical and Rehabilitative Assistance to Disabled and Handicapped Patients in South Lebanon ”. In addition, LFT will continue to assist with the cost of rehabilitative therapy at PADC’s rehabilitation centre as long as Abdallah is in need of it.

The summary of Abdallah’s case is as follows:
Table 1. Cost of treatment and LFT contribution.

Abdallah Ali Yassine Medical Case

Name:
Abdallah Ali Yassine
Gender:
Male
Age:
6
Nb. Of Families members
4
Father Profession
Salesman
Home Town:
Kfartebnit- Nabatieh
Country:
Lebanon
LFT-Support:
Full coverage of special child prosthesis
Medical Diagnosis:
Bilateral Hip Disarticulation
Total Amount of Support:
USD 11,100.00

Now, it is Abdallah’s younger brother Haidar who cannot wait for the limbs to arrive. Every day he asks his father: “When will Abdallah’s legs come so that he can play with me?” And his Dad is overjoyed to be able to reply: “Soon, my son, very soon in sha Allah.”

Dear LFT donors: Lebanon is a country with an exceptionally high number of disabled and handicapped persons. In addition to children like Abdallah, who suffer from a birth defect, many more children and many adults are disabled due to injuries caused by the internal and external conflicts Lebanon went through and especially by landmines and unexploded ordinance.  They are in need of frequently extremely costly treatment or rehabilitative devices they cannot afford.

With your donation, you give the gift of life to a person, and the present of health to his or her family and community.
Give As You Earn:
•     This is the UK 's largest payroll giving scheme and is administered by CAF (Charities Aid Foundation). Any employee or pensioner paid under PAYE can donate to a charitable organization in the UK , tax free. The Trust can receive GAYE donations, and our reference number is GYE 458449.

Islamic Humanitarian Service:
•     The Trust has entered into an agreement with Islamic Humanitarian Service in Ontario to enable Canadian Citizens to donate to the Trust via a local Charity at ZERO% admin cost. Please contact us for further information. We sincerely thank I.H.S. mailto:ihs786@muslimyouth.ca

Comfort Aid International:
•      The Trust has entered into an agreement with Comfort Aid International in Texas to enable United States of America Citizens to donate to the Trust via a local Charity at ZERO% admin cost. Please contact us for further information. We sincerely thank Comfort Aid International. info@comfortaid.org

To make a regular donation by standing order, please download a mandate from the website or contact us and we will send one to you. http://www.ladyfatemahtrust.org/donate.php. You can make a donation by using our secure on-line payment facility at https://secure.webstar.co.uk/lft/hsbc/donate.php.
Please remember that completing a Gift Aid form substantially boosts your donation by 28% if you are a UK taxpayer.

Thank you, as always for all your generosity and support without which our work would not be possible.
Yours sincerely, Amirali G. Karim
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
info@ladyfatemahtrust.org , http://www.ladyfatemahtrust.org/  Tel: +44 (0) 7798 76 10 20