A desperate mother seeks Dhs10.6m to save her only child from rare muscular disease
- Last updated: July 22, 2026 | 18:11
Somaya Saad, Staff Reporter
Alone, Umm Imad runs between closed doors of hope, carrying in her heart the fear of a mother and in her eyes tears that do not dry up. She is looking for a hand that reaches out to save her only child since Duchenne muscular dystrophy began to devour Imad Ammar’s body.
The mother has not known a way other than the continuous pursuit of treatment, knocking on one door after another and looking for a glimmer of hope that gives her son a chance to survive from a disease that steals his strength day after day.
As time progresses, the mother races against time, driven by both her motherhood and her belief that her child still deserves a chance at life.
With eyes weary from crying and a heart heavy with fear, Umm Imad watches her only child, as if following his daily battle against a disease that silently ravages his small body.
Imad Ammar, a 13-year-old Sudanese boy, is battling Duchenne muscular dystrophy and time is working against him. Every day that passes without treatment diminishes his chances of salvaging what remains of his muscles, his mobility and his life.
The mother knocked on many doors and tried every possible way but found the doors closing one after another, and all that remained for her was to raise her appeal to the UAE citizens and residents after her child’s body had begun to fight a battle much bigger than his age.
The disease does not merely steal his strength but advances silently; it begins with faltering steps, then exhausts the muscles and leaves the heart and lungs facing early fatigue, while the mother stands helpless before her child, watching time steal his ability to move and fearing that the disease will reach a stage that deprives him of walking.
Between the walls of her home and the corridors of the hospital, Umm Imad’s life revolves around prayer and hope. She knows that treatment exists, and that a single injection could give her child a real chance to fight the disease, but she stands helpless before its cost of Dhs10.6 million, an amount far beyond the means of a family facing the harsh realities of life alone.
Today, having found all doors closed to her, the mother appeals to the readers of Al Khaleej, to people of goodwill and to all those with compassionate hearts and generous hands, hoping that one of them will be the reason for saving her only child.
A single injection could restore some of Imad's childhood, giving him a chance to take concrete steps, to laugh again and to realise his unfulfilled dreams.
Will a helping hand be extended to Imad?
Donation link
https://donate.ico.org.ae/Home?id=11542
May your helping hand be the hope a little child awaits, and may the smile return to the face of a mother worn down by fear, yet who never lost faith that in this blessed land there are hearts that listen, hands that reach out and hope that never dies.
Dr. Khalid Abdul Wahab Al Khaja, Executive Director of International Charity Organization (ICO), stated that ICO was sponsoring the case of the Sudanese child, Imad Ammar, as one of the humanitarian cases falling under its charitable and humanitarian purview.
“The UAE is a pioneer in the field of charitable and humanitarian work and has made it a firmly established approach and a sustainable practice,” he added.