We are writing to you as parents who have learned to live each day between fear and hope. Our four-year-old son, Mohammad, is fighting a disease no child should ever face: neuroblastoma, a deadly cancer that strikes the youngest and most vulnerable. Today, we reach out with heavy hearts and desperate hope, asking for your help to save our son’s life.
Until March 2025, Mohammad was a healthy, joyful, and curious little boy. He ran, played, and laughed with the energy of any four-year-old. He had dreams as big as his tiny body could carry and a smile that could brighten any room. But in that month, everything changed. Mohammad began complaining of pain in his side. At first, we thought it might be something minor – perhaps a stomach bug or a minor injury from playing. But the pain did not subside. It grew sharper, more persistent, and more worrisome with each passing day.
We rushed him to our local hospital, hoping for reassurance. Instead, we were met with our worst fears: after a series of examinations, including blood tests and a CT scan, the doctors suggested a preliminary diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Those words hit us like a tidal wave. In an instant, our world stopped. The safe, ordinary life we had known vanished, replaced by uncertainty, fear, and the looming shadow of a deadly disease.
We waited anxiously for a referral to another hospital, but time was slipping through our fingers. Every hour mattered. Mohammad’s condition required immediate, specialized care, and we could not afford to wait any longer. As parents, we made the only decision we could: we gathered what resources we had, sold what we could, borrowed from family and friends, and flew our son to Turkey for specialized treatment. Every step was driven by hope, every moment by the unwavering belief that our little boy deserved a chance to survive.
Once in Turkey, the truth came to light. The initial diagnosis had been wrong. Mohammad did not have lymphoma; he had neuroblastoma of the right adrenal gland – stage IV. The cancer had spread aggressively, rapidly, and dangerously. Stage IV neuroblastoma is one of the most severe forms of childhood cancer. It grows swiftly and strikes without mercy. Our little boy, who just a few weeks ago had been playing and laughing, now faced a battle for his life that we could scarcely comprehend.
Mohammad began intensive treatment immediately. He has already undergone four cycles of chemotherapy, each more grueling than the last. We watched in awe and heartbreak as he endured every needle, every infusion, every side effect, all while trying to maintain the innocence of childhood in his smile. But chemotherapy alone was not enough. Our doctors introduced him to a modern, targeted therapy – a new drug designed to attack the cancer with precision. Mohammad has completed his first cycle of this advanced treatment. He responded well, but the road ahead is long and fraught with challenges.
The next critical step is surgery to remove the adrenal tumor, followed by 35 sessions of radiotherapy. Each procedure is essential to giving Mohammad the chance to survive, to live, to return to the life that was stolen from him by this ruthless disease. But there is one devastating problem – we have nothing left. Every savings we had has been spent. Every valuable possession has been sold. We have borrowed from relatives, friends, and neighbors. Our resources are completely exhausted, yet time is our enemy. Every day that passes without the next phase of treatment brings a greater risk to our son’s life.
We are desperate, and yet we are filled with hope. Hope that the kindness of strangers, the compassion of others, can give Mohammad the chance he deserves. We dream of him returning home to the toys he left behind, to the laughter of playtime with other children, to the ordinary joys of childhood that he has been cruelly denied. We dream of a life where he can run freely in the sun, where he can learn, grow, and dream like any other child. We dream of seeing his eyes light up with wonder again, rather than clouded by pain and fear.
