A telethon for 29-year-old Reena Sultan, who is suffering from end stage renal disease, has been organised for tomorrow night from 21:30hrs on MTV Channel 14 and an appeal is being made to Guyanese to give all they can to save the life of the mother of one.
Sultan, who needs some US$26,000 in order to have life-saving, kidney-transplant surgery in India, has been in severe pain over the past few months as she has been living without functioning kidneys for some time now.
The woman already has a donor but now needs the money. Her husband, Fazil Sultan, has been forced to leave his full-time job as he not only has to care for his ailing wife but has been walking the streets of Georgetown practically begging for money not only to ensure his wife gets surgery, but also to fund the dialysis she needs to stay alive in the meantime. Dialysis is a medical procedure that uses a machine to filter waste products from the bloodstream and restore the blood’s normal constituents, a function which healthy kidneys perform.
Fazil had told Stabroek News in a recent interview that the cost of the initial treatment was $215,000 and after that his wife would need to access the treatment twice per week at a cost of $36,050 per session
Reena had suddenly collapsed seven years ago and had been rushed to hospital where she had been given the devastating news that her kidneys were failing.
After that things had proceeded fairly well, as she had gone to the clinic, received medication and had been able to care for her husband and son.
However, about three months ago her life changed again when she took a turn for the worse because her kidneys had deteriorated. She sometimes has to use a wheelchair and gets exhausted easily.
While the Ministry of Health will give the family the standard contribution of US$5,000 towards the operation, they still need some US$21,000 for Reena to get the life-saving surgery. It is hoped that tomorrow night’s telethon will bear fruit, and Reena will be able to have surgery in time for Christmas. Anyone willing to help the couple can call 683-9861 or 227-4167 or can donate directly to their Citizens Bank account number 218334826.