Race against time ends: UAE campaign secures Dhs10.6m injection for Iraqi boy

A 10-year-old Iraqi child named Youssef Haider, received the world's most expensive therapeutic injection, beginning a new journey of hope in confronting the rare disease known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

This comes after a successful humanitarian campaign raised the treatment cost of Dhs10.6 million, in cooperation with Dar Al Ber Society, following an appeal published by Al Khaleej newspaper titled "Save Youssef... a race against time before his muscles and heart let him down," on March 29.

Now, the journey of pain has ended after his mother lived in fear, watching her young child's body weaken day by day, and fearing that the disease would progress before treatment could be secured.

Youssef Haider and other at the hospital.

The child's father, Haider Al Waeli, told Al Khaleej Newspaper that Youssef underwent many examinations, analyses, and laboratory medical procedures.

He added that the UAE provided the treatment amount of Dhs10.6 million through a community campaign, in cooperation with Dar Al Ber Society after Youssef’s health situation was published on Al Khaleej newspaper.

Youssef's mother affirmed that the UAE not only saved her child's life but also saved an entire family that lived every day on faint hope and great fear, noting that years of suffering began when Youssef was four, when he showed signs of weakness, frequent falls, and difficulty moving, until he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.