It has been a long journey for Hayden.
After almost 3 years and almost recovering from Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) Childhood Leukemia, just when we all thought we can finally go back to normal life, Hayden was diagnose with a relapse. Fighting against a relapse is much more intense, and just chemotherapy alone is insufficient.
With a bone marrow transplant needed for a full recovery and low chance of another relapse, the family has been struck with the bad news that we have to cover his transplant, as his insurance will not cover anything that is out of his ‘treatment’, which doesn’t include:
- Extracting his HLA typing to find a matching donor
- Testing potential donors
- Extraction of bone marrow/stem cell from donor
- Any cost incurred from donor side
- Transportation of bone marrow/stem cell back to Malaysia.
Without the transplant, there is a high chance Hayden will not recover, or the chances of relapsing again is very high. On top of that, the lower the donor matching is, the probability of side effects and relapse is high.
With all that said, we have been told that the cost of the entire transplant procedure will cost approximately RM400,000. However, as some of the cost will be covered by his insurance, we will be slapped with a RM100,000 bill that has to be paid either to the donor, or to the hospital when any procedures are not covered by insurance.
Hence, right now, we have no choice but to hope for the goodwill of others to fund this high cost of obtaining the donor marrow. We will only be collecting what the insurance does not cover, and should there be any unused amount, we will pay forward to another child who needs the same sort of funding.
Whether it is RM5 or RM50, we truly appreciate your goodwill and empathy that can help our son survive this ordeal.