Brave Nathaniel Nabena has said a heartfelt thank-you to readers backing his desperate fight with leukaemia.
The nine-year-old is “so grateful” to those who donated to his family’s £825,000 appeal for last-chance treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital, his dad Ebisidor said.
Generous readers rushed to get involved after we told how the Nigerian lad is ineligible for NHS hospital care.
He travelled to the UK to have a prosthetic left eye fitted after his was removed in his home country due to cancer.
But the treatment was put on hold when he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in November.
Since then he has had medication at a relative’s home in Croydon, South London.
The family’s fundraiser is set to hit £70,000 ahead of a meeting tomorrow with medics from Croydon University Hospital and Great Ormond Street to decide on the next steps.
Ebisidor, 45, said: “The support has been overwhelming and means so much – God bless everyone who has donated.
“Nathaniel is sitting up and says thank you, too. We have hope but I am trapped between great difficulties. All I need is for my son to get treatment. AML is so aggressive.”
Without a stem cell transplant Nathaniel could die within days or weeks, Ebisidor says.
By law, NHS trusts can give non-UK residents free emergency care but must charge for ops if they are admitted to hospital.
Lawyers are set to ask the Home Office if the family can stay here on compassionate grounds. If they win, Nathaniel would be entitled to NHS care, Deji Sijuwade, of Alfred James Solicitors, said.
The firm’s senior partner explained: “It’s tricky given the rules and how strict they are. There is no way the family can afford £825,000.”
Nathaniel’s family – his dad, mum Modupe, 38, and sisters Nadia, 11, and Nicole, 20 months – are staying with him in Croydon.
Ebisidor, a business analyst, said: “I did not bring this child here sick. I would take him home to treat him if I could but there is nothing available.
"It has been a long, hard journey, but we will never give up fighting for him.”
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust said: “We are doing everything we can.”
Great Ormond Street Hospital said: “Our teams are working through what is in the best interests of the child.”
His family has spent £5,000 so far on his treatment since he was diagnosed with AML.
