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A local Syrian refugee sponsor group and family members already here are desperate to get a Syrian family to Kingston sooner rather than later so one of their children can get life-saving medical care in Canada. The boy, who has beaten leukemia, now has hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver.
Since the summer of 2015, Save a Family from Syria (SAFFS) has brought three families from war-torn Syria to the Limestone City.
One more will be here shortly, with paperwork pending on two more.
Members of the Aljalem family are currently in Lebanon awaiting immigration papers, which will allow them to immigrate to Canada and eventually Kingston.
But they’re in a race against the clock as one on their four children, seven-year-old Bilal, has a life-threatening medical condition.
The boy, who has beaten leukemia, now has hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver.
Dr. Jeff Hogan, a physician at Quarry Medical in Kingston, received a summary letter earlier this month from an attending pediatric physician at the Ain Wazein Hospital outlining the boy’s various medical issues.
“They assume he has liver cirrhosis from hepatitis C because he had leukemia when he was three years old and received tainted blood transfusions and got hep C from that,” said Hogan, who is also a specialist in the area of complex wound care for diabetics’ feet.
Hogan said the boy’s liver could have been damaged by hepatitis C but also could have been damaged by the chemotherapy battling leukemia.
Read more…http://www.thewhig.com/2016/12/20/syrian-family-hope-to-get-ailing-child-to-canada