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Cookridge gran working to open youngster's eyes
Cookridge gran Patricia Roberts twice has suffered a rare reaction to medication.
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Thanks to the expertise of Leeds medics she recovered and now she wants to help a little boy with the same condition to see again.
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Mrs Roberts suffered from Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS), which affects just one in a million people each year.
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The potentially fatal condition is usually caused by a severe adverse reaction to prescribed or over-the-counter drugs.
Doctors spotted what was wrong with Mrs Roberts the second time it occurred and immediately gave her the treatment she needed.
Now the grandmother has been touched by the plight of four-year-old Ali Ghazi, from Pakistan.
The youngster's eyes were fused together by SJS and now he cannot open them because light is too painful.
With a handful of other SJS campaigners across the world, Mrs Roberts has helped to raise 5,000 to bring Ali to the UK to be seen by specialists not available in Pakistan.
Now she needs to collect up to 50,000 more for his life-changing treatment.
The 64-year-old said: "He's had a really rough time. All I want is for him to be able to see the world again."
Mrs Roberts thinks she first experienced SJS more than 10 years ago when she developed huge red blisters while she had flu.
At hospital she was given steroids and antihistamines and recovered.
Scared
But last December she developed similar symptoms and her GP diagnosed SJS. Again she was rushed to hospital and given massive doses of medication.
Since then she has found other sufferers and families who have lost relatives to SJS and through them heard about Ali's case.
"Very fortunately I got exactly the treatment needed and I am ok," the retired teacher said. "I was in pain and scared, and I'm a grown-up. How does a four-year-old child feel?
"At least we can do something to stop the pain he's in."
She and other campaigners collected the cash to bring Ali and his family from their home in Karachi to the Centre for Sight in East Grinstead, West Sussex.
On Wednesday he will have an assessment under anaesthetic. Then doctors will be able to work out what treatment he needs and how much it will cost.
Mrs Roberts is planning to ask businesses for support and to sell greetings cards featuring designs drawn by Ali's seven-year-old brother.
* To contribute, send a cheque – made out to the Centre for Sight Trust – to Amanda Bobby, Queen Victoria Hospital, Holtye Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 3DZ.
Label the back of the cheque 'Ali Ghazi fund'.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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