Abu Dhabi: Time may be running out for Baby Aleeyah, but the cost of her life-saving surgery is still unaffordable for her concerned mother.
The 10-month-old baby in the Philippines was diagnosed with biliary atresia soon after her birth in March 2014 and, as reported by Gulf News last month, doctors have said she needs an urgent liver transplant to survive.
“My sister has been matched as a donor and I have been able to set a surgery date for May. But I am still miles away from collecting the full amount needed for the surgery,” Grace Carungay, Aleeyah’s 31-year-old mother, told Gulf News.
Biliary atresia is a life-threatening liver disease, in which vessels known as bile ducts are damaged. Bile ducts are responsible for carrying a fluid called bile that is produced by the gall bladder, to the liver for storage, and from the liver to the small intestine for digesting food. Bile helps in the digestion of fats. The ducts also allow for toxins and waste products to be carried out of the body.
The only effective treatments for the disease involve a surgical procedure to drain bile into the liver, or a liver transplant. In Aleeyah’s case, doctors found that her liver was too damaged because the bile was not being drained. As a result, the surgery would not be successful, and the only course of action left was to pursue a liver transplant.
Aleeyah’s surgery costs 4 million pesos (Dh331,994), and the Philippines government will contribute 1.5 million pesos (Dh124,172) towards it. Following the Gulf News story, concerned readers have shown their generosity by contributing Dh35,000 for Aleeyah. Carungay has also been able to muster some savings of her own, and donations from other sources. But she is still short of nearly Dh183,000 for the surgery.
“Unfortunately, I still need more to save my darling baby,” Carungay said.
The receptionist at a facilities management firm in the capital takes home just about Dh2,500 each month, and has had to leave her daughter in the care of her mother and sisters in Manila.
As Aleeyah waits for her surgery, her health continues to decline and she has already been hospitalised twice in the past for complications. Since her liver is unable to digest regular baby formula, Carungay has to obtain special milk that is not available in the Philippines.
“My family gets it from Singapore. Each 400 gram tin costs Dh2,200 and my growing daughter needs a tin every three weeks. So this is an added expense,” Carungay explained.
“I cannot wait for her to live a normal life, and I hope the kindness of strangers and donors will soon make this possible,” the mother added.
