LONDON: Nine-month-old Ainul Mardhiah Ahmad Safiuddin, who is stricken with a rare type of cancer known as Germ Cell Tumour, arrived in London on Saturday morning.
She was accompanied by her parents, Ahmad Safiuddin Ahmad Razak and Nurul Erwani Zaidi, both 24.
Shortly after Ainul’s arrival, United Kingdom-trained surgeon Dr Nur Amalina Che Bakri thanked fellow Malaysians for helping to facilitate her journey here to seek treatment.
Dr Nur Amalina had appealed for help on social media to bring Ainul to London for treatment after a course of chemotherapy failed to send the bright red tumour growing in her mouth into remission.
“When I mentioned that I wanted to help this family, everyone tried to help me to get them here.
“I just want to thank all Malaysians for their donations, and also to the team of anaesthetists who accompanied Ainul Mardhiah on the plane and also the team of Malaysian doctors who actually live in London who helped sort out accommodation, finances and everything else,” she said.
Also present during Ainul’s arrival at the London hospital was Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad who had earlier spoken to the parents to express his support.
Safiuddin said he hoped specialists involved in the case could offer a second opinion on his daughter’s condition.
“We hope Ainul is given a chance to live a normal life like any other baby — to walk, to eat, to drink milk like a normal child,” he said following his daughter’s admission to a London hospital.
Dr Nur Amalina said several specialists in different fields would be involved in examining the baby’s condition.
The family was accompanied to London by two private hospital anaesthetists who had paid for the trip out of their own pockets.
The family had been told that even the flight to the UK would be risky for Ainul, but they decided that the risk was worth taking for the child to survive and have a normal life.
But, Safiuddin had said earlier that the family was aware that chances of recovery for Ainul were slim and that the surgery could be risky.
Doctors in the UK are expected to do an magnetic resonance imaging check on Ainul before proceeding with treatment.