Help Umm Ahmed Fight Cancer Amidst War

Hello all, my name is Jenna and I’m from the U.S. I have organized this campaign for my friend Ahmed and his family in Gaza. He has asked me to make this GoFundMe specifically for his mother’s medical costs. Below are messages from Rawan and Ahmed. Donations we receive will be sent directly to Ahmed via PayPal.

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A Mother’s Shadow

In a small town torn apart by war, where the sky was no longer blue as it once was, and the sound of explosions echoed more often than children’s laughter, lived Rawan (Umm Ahmad) — a woman in her mid-forties, and a mother of nine children.

Some time before the war broke out, Rawan was diagnosed with breast cancer. The beginning was difficult, but she always repeated:

“As long as my heart is beating, I will remain your mother, and I will keep fighting.”

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The Double Struggle

Rawan began her battle against the disease with chemotherapy, but it wasn’t long before life changed completely. War swept through the city. The hospital where she used to receive her treatment was shut down, and medicine became a rare commodity.

She found herself fighting on two fronts: the deadly illness in her body, and the war that stole her children’s sense of safety.

Their home was partially destroyed, so she turned a small basement into a shelter. There, she cooked over a wood fire, sewed the children’s clothes with trembling hands from exhaustion, and told them bedtime stories every night to drown out the roar of aircraft above.

Despite her weakness, she would sometimes go out in search of medicine, walking slowly through the rubble, surrounded by destruction — but holding tight to hope. She kept pictures of her children in her pocket, whispering:

“I breathe because of you.”

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A Mother’s Message to Her Children… and to Humanity

She wrote it on the back of a worn-out piece of paper:

“You are my light in the darkness. If I ever leave, never forget that you were the reason I survived for so long. I wasn’t just a sick mother — I was a fighting one, because I loved you more than life itself.”

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Stand with her, as much as you can.

Your support matters.

May God bless you. - Ahmed