For my mum - Juliet’s ALS Medical Fund

This is an extremely difficult post for me to write and it has taken me many months to do but I am at a stage where I simply cannot carry this load alone.

I have been battling some severe health and financial circumstances with my parents over the last few years. It has been a long and gruelling road with little light in sight. It’s been relentless and traumatic.

To add to already existing family distress, my mother was recently diagnosed with Bulbar onset ALS which is an aggressive variant of motor neurone disease. It is a degenerative neurological condition and is grave and most survive only 1-1.5 years after its onset with gradual and painful loss of ability to speak, eat and breathe.

Her health deteriorated fast due to extreme financial distress when my father lost his entire life earnings a few years ago under very tragic financial circumstance and lost his mind with it.

I have been holding the weight of this - emotionally and financially for years. It has taken a huge toll on my mental health and my family finances. I cannot do this alone any longer. My heart is broken and my grief is debilitating. I have two little children and a husband who has been bearing the weight of this with me.

Covid has made our situation so much worse with my father now having zero income and zero savings to get through. I cannot get to them.

I am extremely distressed at the moment and am desperately seeking ways to be able to get my parents the care necessary. They live in Oman, where I grew up. They have no healthcare, no income and no way to pay bills, food or their medicals. My father has become my mother’s carer and she can’t do much for herself at all. I can’t afford the financial strain let alone the paralysing grief that has come with it.

It’s taken me a lot of courage to get to this stage and ask for help. With mounting bills, food and medical needs, this amount will barely get me through 10 months for their care in Oman. This is my last resort as I cannot let my my parents fall on to the streets. So this is my plea for help.

If you feel like you are able to assist even in the smallest capacity, I will graciously accept with the hope that one day I will be able to pay it forward.

With deepest gratitude

Reema