Couple hopes to crowdfund Rs 18 crores for drug to save life of their one-and-a-half-year-old son

PAZHAYANGADI: Kalyassery MLA M Vijin's phone has not rested for four days.

Most of the calls from abroad are for offering help. A small child needs 44 ml of medicine to save his life which must come from America. The price of it is Rs 18 crores.

One-and-a-half-year-old Mohammed needs Zolgensma, the world's most expensive drug to save his life.

Since Vijin is the patron of the treatment committee, most people call him and offer money. The treatment committee is hopeful that the goal can be achieved.

Afra and Mohammed, the two of three children of the PK Rafeeq-Mariyumma couple in Mattool Central, are suffering from a rare disease called spinal muscular atrophy. A village has come forward to find fund for the medicine, at least to save Muhammad's life.

Forget me, save my little brother

15-year-old Afra had earlier been diagnosed with the disease. Parents have spent lakhs to save their children's lives. The disease can be cured only if the medicine is given within two years of age. At the age of four, the eldest daughter Afra was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy. The child is having difficulty even moving in a wheelchair. Afra is praying that his brother will not get into this situation too.

If he gets medicine, Mohammed will survive

The doctors at Kozhikode MIMS who are treating the child have assured that the baby will survive if the medicine is given. His father Rafeeq, who works as an AC technician in the Middle East, is trapped at home following a lockdown. The cost of their son's life - saving medicine is unthinkable for the family that sold everything they had, and then borrowed money for treatment. Ten-year-old Ansila, the second daughter, is growing up seeing the suffering of her siblings.