Surgery for Aida Nehme

This is the case of my (Leyah’s) mom Aida Nehme, who recently by chance discovered a cancer in her lungs. She is in need for a financial support for Lebanon is passing through deteriorating social, economical and political crisis. Mom needs to do a surgery to remove a cancer tumor that is in her lungs.

 

Who is Aida:

Aida (Aida is my mom's chosen Lebanese nickname while Hafa is her name in Bosnia and on papers) is a loving wife of Salim who is also currently being treated for stage 4 cancer. She is a mom who sacrificed a lot for her 3 daughters: Sania, Andy and me (Leyah). Hafa came to Lebanon in 1990 after getting married to my dad, just a few months before the start of the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina.

 

Medical case:

On Christmas, Andy, my youngest sister who is now 24 years of age, had a very strong cold, that left her and mom severely coughing for a month and as their treatment, wasn't getting them any better, the doctor prescribed them to do an X-ray too. Then, in mom's X-ray the doctor noticed a lump and so she was prescribed more scans to reveal what is the lump. Then she had to do a biopsy twice. The first one failed so she had to repeat it. The results came diagnosing her with cancer.

The doctor said that her sickness acted as her luck and gave her a chance to discover the cancer at an early stage.

 

Finances:

We always struggled financially compared to other Lebanese families but now as my father is also being treated of cancer, it had become extremely challenging. My mom has no siblings in Bosnia, her father passed away years ago and her extended family is also struggling financially.

Securing the expenses midst of Lebanon's economic crisis, a crumbling banking sector, hyperinflation, political and social instability is burdensome for 2 cancer patients, the mother and father at once.

The expenses for the hospital are fractionally covered by social security while the other is requested in fresh dollars on the black market rate.

Black Market rate is 20,000

While the official Lebanese rate is 1500.

 

The amount still needed for my mom's surgery to do the surgery + ICU stay would equate to 9000$ after the Social Security discount which is very low in comparison to the hospital prices and the social discount is still calculated based on the Lebanese official rate (1500).

 

Aida needs your support

My mom needs your support to do her surgery be free from cancer. I hope that with your support that she also sees like never before the collective good that we all long to see and experience, and through that she will also have you as family and supporters of her own life from different countries around the world. She needs you and I need you because it is so heart breaking to see sadness and tiredness in eyes that are holding on to hope and life like never before.

 

My parents' story:

My mom had a tough life, as a child her father was alcoholic, and so she faced rejection and abandonment by her own father. She then got married to my dad Salim and got stuck in Lebanon for 12 years not being able to go to her country Bosnia because of the absence of Bosnian and Hercegovinian embassy in Lebanon to fix her papers. During her first 15 years in Lebanon she rarely talked to her family in Bosnia for the absence of land phone numbers in the houses then, for the families' low financial status and the high expense of calls in call centers.

 

While being in Lebanon and away from her mom, and away from her country, living in a very poor area in a Lebanon, she faced depression and anxiety. My father was a very hard working man, who never took yearly holidays because his organization had no one to replace him and because he was committed to raising us up to best of his abilities and to secure us by giving us good education in the midst of challenging times in Lebanon. He had to stop work now because we recently found out that he has a stage 4 cancer.

 

(note: Leyah is a dear friend from Lebanon.)