Coventry family re-launches urgent appeal to raise money for father-of-four's treatment - The Coventry Observer

Coventry family re-launches urgent appeal to raise money for father-of-four's treatment

Coventry Editorial 25th Sep, 2018   0

A COVENTRY family has re-launched an urgent appeal to raise money for a father-of-four to get radical treatment for his ‘devastating’ disease.

Zhahid Habib, aged 42, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2008 – a life-long condition which affects the brain and spinal cord, causing disability.

His doctors believe he could be severely disabled in about a year and too weak to undertake the procedure he needs.

Zhahid is seeking life-changing but dangerous treatment which could prevent the disease from worsening.




The dangerous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) procedure involves eradicating the old immune system with chemotherapy and using the patient’s own stem cells to rebuild it.

He is aiming to raise enough money by January to travel to India to start receiving treatment.


He and his wife, who live in Hillfields, Coventry with their four children, have managed to raise £17,000 with the help of their wider family and the community.

The family desperately needs to raise £30,000, and has been appealing on different fundraising platforms since April.

Zhahid’s wife Sam Begum told us: “We want to thank everyone for their help but we are struggling to get our story out there.

“We need to get this to as many people as possible as the campaign came to a halt due to the sudden loss of my father.

“There is some hope from a procedure which has been used for cancer treatment for years, which is showing great results for autoimmune diseases, such as MS.

“It is halting the disease and many people who have been through the procedure have reported improvements and reversal of some disabilities.

“I know it’s not a cure, but the disease will progress until he is wheelchair bound, bedridden and then he will die.

“At present on the EDSS scale (disability scale) he is a six – and 10 is death.

“The procedure is risky and after a lot of consideration we have come to the conclusion doing nothing is not an option.

“We have four children. Zhahid has been ill throughout and they have been too busy taking care of their dad to have a normal bond of father and child.”

The criteria for the treatment is tight in the UK and depends on the progression of the illness.

It can cost nearly £100,000 and the waiting list is between one and two years.

Zhahid, a former housing project manager, told us in June he does not want to be a burden to his family any longer and wants to live his life, playing with his children.

To donate visit Zhahid’s latest fundraising page: chuffed.org/project/help-stop-zhahids-primary-progressive-ms

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