Saudi Gazette report YANBU — Abdul Rahman Al-Zahrani, 11, suffers from leukemia. His mother said her son started to suffer from this disease from an early age. At the time, she could not have imagined that he was having cancer but she felt it as his symptoms started to aggravate day by day. She said: “I felt that my little baby was crying from pain. I took him to several primary healthcare centers but I was told every time that he was fine and I shouldn't worry as all kids his age suffered from anorexia and body weakness.” Although she was reassured by many doctors that her baby was fine, she knew something was wrong. Abdul Rahman's loss of appetite had increased over time while his eyelids swelled and his lips turned white. When it was time for Abdul Rahman to enroll in elementary first grade, the school asked the mother to fill out a health form. “It was this form that helped me discover my son's cancer.” Many parents regard health forms as unimportant and do not fill them out when they should, Abdul Rahman's mother said. Abdul Rahman underwent full medical investigations and the doctors decided that he should take chemotherapy sessions as the cancer had spread all over his body, according to the mother. He underwent many sessions and he still follows up with the hospital so that his condition will not deteriorate. “If he gets cold, he should be hospitalized immediately because his body's immune system is weak.” The mother wrote a book on the suffering of her son. She said it never occurred to her that one day she would write a book about her son's suffering. She was collecting information and handing out pamphlets to raise the general public's awareness about leukemia. She had also kept a diary in which she described how she felt watching her son suffering in silence. “I always jotted down how I felt when I saw him in pain while undergoing a chemotherapy session. I was venting out my painful feelings on the paper. “Slowly, I found that I wrote many pages that could be turned into a book.” Abdul Rahman's mother started a campaign to alleviate the pain of child cancer patients by giving them a gift or toy. She gives her son gifts and toys and asks him to hand them out to child patients. She wants him to see other cancer patients and understand how they suffer just like him, the mother said. “My son loves this work now and loves to give gifts to child patients.” She also bought a money box and wrote on it “Friends of Leukemia Patients”. She encourages her children to set aside a small amount of their daily allowance for the box. Then she set up Facebook and Twitter accounts to attract more volunteers. “The aim was to raise public awareness about the importance of donating blood to leukemia patients.” Abdul Rahman's mother hopes that she will change the way child cancer patients get treatment. “My ambition is to create a setting where children can undergo treatment in an atmosphere of fun, not inside a hospital room that makes them feel frightened. Perhaps my dreams are too big to be true, but I think they can come true. Children love to play. Why not use games and toys when treating those children?”
