Raiha Nawal's Medical Fund

This is a request to our loved ones, friends, and the wider community from Nabila Idris and Saad Ashraf on behalf of dearest Raiha and family:

UPDATE (13:00, 24.11.2022): We are very grateful for the outpouring of love and support we witnessed the past two days. None of us expected it. Mere words will not do justice to our feelings.

With your help, Alhamdulillah, we have raised enough to cover the cost of the foreign hospital stay, repatriation, and a professional carer for the first year of Raiha's rehabilitation journey.

Since we have achieved our immediate targets, at this moment the family is reluctant to ask any more of their well wishers. We now only seek your sincere duas (prayers) for Raiha and Zubair.

We know Raiha has appreciated reading your messages of support (Zubair read them out to her in the hospital), so please do keep emailing these in via the page and we can continue to lift their spirits.

(Some of our friends have insisted we keep the page open since, taking into account the couple's difficult lifelong journey ahead, they want to continue helping out in the future, especially to support further caregiving costs, specialist equipment costs, etc - all of which are very expensive. For that reason alone, this page will remain open for the time being. Your prayers, however, are our biggest ask.)

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The Accident

16th November. On the last day of a trip in Morocco to celebrate their wedding anniversary, Raiha (31) and Zubair (33) were in a devastating accident. Raiha unfortunately broke her neck during the accident, and though she received emergency surgery, she now has a spinal cord injury (C5) and is paralysed from the neck down. Raiha is currently being treated in a hospital in Marrakesh, with her husband Zubair by her side daily.

To maximise her chances of recovering fully, we urgently need Raiha to be with us (her family) and to receive her hospital treatment in the UK. Our immediate priority is to bring Raiha back home to the UK safely.

Costs

Amidst the horrific aftermath of this accident, we, her family, are acutely aware of the costs of surgery abroad, foreign hospital costs and transport back home. We have tried multiple avenues, such as: the travel insurance company, vehicle hire company, and both the British and Bangladeshi embassies, but unfortunately, none is willing to cover or even, subsidise the enormous costs. Though Zubair is a British citizen, Raiha is still in the process of becoming a British citizen, meaning that she is not entitled to receive state support.

So far, the hospital fees are equivalent to £20,000 and an air ambulance to £30,000 GBP. Due to her injuries' severity, Raiha will also require significant support when she returns. The funds will therefore, also cater towards her ongoing care (such as her wheelchair, an automated bed, stair lift installation, round the clock professional carer, etc.) to help to make her adjustment to daily life a little easier. Due to her residency status, despite Raiha’s home being in the UK, she is currently prohibited from accessing the standard support provided to those with disabilities, including the special assistance that Zubair would ordinarily receive to help him to look after her 24 hours a day and ensure some semblance of quality of life. We are making every effort to seek an exemption, but this is unlikely to be given.

Who is Raiha?

It is difficult to capture in words what Raiha is like as a person but we will try! When you first meet Raiha, she is immediately charismatic, and it feels pretty impossible not to fall into her orbit; she is hilarious and incredibly caring. Her energy in a room is always palpable. Raiha somehow manages to make both strangers laugh, and close friends feel held. Her empathy is boundless, and she is a pillar of our family, for whom we are constantly grateful to have and to know. Hands down, Raiha is one of the kindest people you will ever meet.

After graduating from Dhaka University in Bangladesh, she continues to reach new heights and has just completed her post-graduation from the University of Manchester this year. Raiha has an adventurous spirit, joy and lust for life - all of which have not been hampered by the accident. We are so enormously keen to help and support her in getting back on her feet.

We are indebted to all reading this and considering our family’s situation. We are enormously grateful for your support - please contribute whatever you can - it helps more than you know.

Jazakhallahu Khairan and in gratitude,

Nabila Idris and Saad Ashraf

on behalf of Raiha’s family

NOTE: Zubair and his family are understandably overwhelmed right now. So, if you have any questions, please get in touch with the organisers of the page via this page. We will get back to you at the earliest.