11 year old Fiza Bashir is a bright and bubbly young lady. She loves seeing friends, going to school and chatting away to people she meets. But life is difficult for Fiza at the moment as she is currently undergoing treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital for T Cell Lymphoma. She has been at the hospital for over two months now and needs an urgent blood stem cell transplant from a matching donor to save her life.
Fiza was diagnosed with cancer during the summer of 2011, when she was only 10 ½ years old. Since then, she has had many rounds of chemotherapy and has been in and out of hospital. She has had to mature very quickly, communicating with many different doctors and nurses about her illness and planned treatment.
Fiza’s father Haroon says; ‘her biggest concern right now is getting back to school and friends. Fiza is very poorly; she spends most of her time in hospital, undergoing chemotherapy and a complicated regime of medication which is keeping her stable. She’s staying positive and is a real fighter but she keeps her emotions and fears to herself, quietly waiting for a lifesaving donor.’
Fiza’s two siblings, her 15 year old brother Murthaza and her 12 year old sister Hajra, are not a match, so Fiza’s family are appealing for donors to join the Anthony Nolan register to help save her life.
Fiza’s mother Riffit said: ‘Anthony Nolan are dedicated to saving lives of people diagnosed with blood cancers. Being on the Anthony Nolan register means that you can save someone’s life and all it takes is a simple procedure very similar to donating blood. Donating bone marrow does not in anyway lessen your quality of life, it does however give someone the opportunity to live. Someone like my daughter Fiza who is desperate to find a match. I hope you consider being part of this lifesaving organisation by registering with the Anthony Nolan. You could be Fizas only hope for life.’
The family are holding a donor recruitment event for Fiza on Sunday 27th May in Ilford, Essex.
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