Karachi: Maria Abdullah is urging all Pakistanis to help her husband Aleem Junejo get a lung transplant; a medical facility sadly, still not available in Pakistan.
It all started four months ago, when one fine day Aleem fell ill and hardly after 10 days of his illness Aleem was diagnosed with an end stage lungs’ infection. Junejo, suffering from Kartagener’s syndrome, a rare genetic disorder is in urgent need of a lung transplant for which the couple has to look for international help. If not treated on time, the disease is likely to result in a heart failure.
“One day Aleem got really ill and we we rushed him to Liaquat National Hospital. There Dr. Tabish Rehman told us after seeing all his reports that his lungs’ condition has deteriorated and the heart is also affected cause of it. He will have to be kept on oxygen 24/7 for him to survive. Besides that the only solution is that he gets a lung transplant done. He might need a heart transplant too, said the doctor.”
-Maria Abdullah
“I tried contacting people in India. Luckily I got a call from Global hospital who also told me that he is a patient of lung transplant only. I immediately applied for a visa.”
-Maria Abdullah
But in the time span of almost two months, Maria and Aleem have been denied Indian visa thrice.They then tried Singapore, Turkey, Germany, Australia and Austria but were denied treatment there too as these countries only consider their own nationals for transplant.
Maria and Aleem are currently awaiting response from China, Thailand, UK, USA and Canada and are trying to reach out to eminent personalities like Sushma Swaraj, Shah Rukh Khan and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take up their cause.
