A Green Point couple are desperately trying to save their baby girl’s life after she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.
One-year-old Mairah Hassen was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in February and needs a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
While she can get the former at home, the latter is only available in the USA.
The little girl also has a genetic mutation fuelling the cancer, making treatment that much harder.
Her desperate dad Irfaan Hassen says he and mom Jenna Cook now need to raise R2.5 million to get to America.
“The frontline treatment of this cancer consists of chemotherapy, surgical removal of the tumour, radiation and stem cell transplant – quite a lot for this little person, but she’s proven to be quite strong thus far,” the father says.
“Fortunately, we have access to all the frontline treatment in South Africa and this is covered by our medical aid scheme.
“Mairah’s form of cancer has a second stage of treatment – to avoid relapse or treat refractory disease, but this part of the treatment is not offered in South Africa yet.
“It is immunotherapy specifically designed to target the neuroblastoma cells and will increase Mairah’s chances of survival and prevention of relapse by at least 20%.”
Since her diagnosis, the brave tot has already undergone six sessions of chemo.
She currently has a visible tumour growing on the inside of her cheek.
Irfaan says: “The administration of the immunotherapy antibody itself amounts to approximately R2.5 million.”
Donations can be done via Quicket or GoFundMe under “Mairah’s Miracle” or via the NPO Cupcakes of Hope, with reference “Mairah Hassan”.