Baby Ahana: Fundraising for Durban toddler with rare cancer continues
The family of a Durban toddler fighting a rare form of cancer needs R3-million to reach Phase 1 of their fundraising goal.
Two-year-old Ahana Dhanuk is fighting with all her might against Stage 4 Neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma is a cancer that develops from immature nerve cells present in many parts of the body.
Ahana’s father, Aveen Dhanuk, explained that there is a clinical trial in New York, US, that could raise his baby girl’s chances of survival from 30% to 80%.
However, getting her to the US for said treatment will cost around R7-million.
Aveen explained that while fundraising has been going well so far, they have a long way to go before they reach Phase 1 of their goal.
"The Phase 1 goal is R4-million, which is the cost of the groundbreaking vaccine and Ahana’s acceptance into MSK (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). We currently need to raise R3-million to reach the Phase 1 goal,” he said.
According to the MSK website, they have more clinical trials of immunotherapy for neuroblastoma than in any other hospital.
Ahana just turned two years old on 22 March, her dad said they celebrated in isolation at home. This coming weekend, they have a few fundraising events to reach their Phase 1 goal.
“We have stalls at a few markets this upcoming weekend, firstly at the Rand easter show in JHB and the Scottburgh easter market on Saturday. Follow our socials on FB and Instagram to keep up to date.”
ECR News previously spoke with the family of baby Ahana and we learned about the clinical trial and what it means for this little fighter.
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