BUKIT MERTAJAM: An NGO has managed to raise RM1.2 million in seven hours and 28 minutes for a nine-year-old girl who needed to undergo chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy for leukaemia in Singapore.
Penang-based One Hope Charity organised a fundraising campaign online for Grace Lim Jiay Hwey on Feb 19 and received RM1,211,440.02 from 6,928 parties.
The organisation also allocated RM30,000 from its emergency medical and contingency fund to support her case.
She was discharged from the Subang Jaya Medical Centre on Feb 20, her 9th birthday, and left the next day to begin treatment at the National University Hospital in Singapore.
Grace, who has suffered a relapse twice, underwent tests on Feb 26 and later had T cells samples extracted.
“She is back in Subang Jaya Medical Centre to continue with her treatment,” her father Jason J.S. Lim told theSun.
He said according to the doctors in Singapore, CAR-T therapy modifies the patient’s own T cells to better target and destroy cancer cells, with a recovery rate of 80%.
“I am very grateful to everyone who supported and donated to help my daughter,” said Lim, a 45 year-old sales executive from Kota Damansara in Selangor.
He said in Nov 2019, Grace began experiencing recurrent high fever. A blood test revealed an abnormally high white blood cell count and she was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a type of blood cancer.
“She underwent a year and a half of chemotherapy, and her condition was under control for a while.
“In early 2023, she had a relapse. After receiving a bone marrow transplant from her six-year-old brother, Grace showed signs of recovery. However, at the end of the 100-day observation period post-transplant, the cancer had returned.”
He said his family had exhausted all savings for previous treatments, that amounted to about RM900,000. That was when he started to look for financial assistance through crowdfunding on online platforms.
But her photos were used by unscrupulous parties to solicit donations from the public. The scammers stole online images and posted her plight on a Facebook page known as “Shanyi Foundation” on Jan 20 and 26, with a quick response (QR) code for collection.
“The QR code displayed on the Facebook page asking for donations leads to a person named Lee Sook Kim. We do not know who she is, nor is she related to us in any way,” said Lim, adding that he traced the account holder to an address in Semenyih, Selangor.
Lim said he first discovered the fraudulent activities on Facebook through his mother-in-law a day after it was posted.
Upon discovering their fundraising efforts were hijacked, Lim ceased all private fundraising efforts and entrusted One Hope Charity with managing donations.
One Hope Charity founder and chairman Datuk Chua Sui Hau said the organisation, established in 2002, had provided more than RM10 million in Covid-19 aid contributions during the pandemic.
“From 2019 to 2024, we helped 1,058 people overcome financial difficulties, especially those with medical complications, and raised RM69.9 million in total.
“We also helped with 3,604 cases of funeral and burial assistance, 675 cases of sheltering old folk and special needs children, 175,204 cases of essential items contribution, 6,463 cases of medical equipment contribution and 15,500 cases of free health screening.
“Grace’s case is genuine, and we are happy that we are able to help give her a second chance at life,” he said.
On the organisation’s record on fundraising, Chua said they once raised RM9 million in just under eight days for a 17-month-old girl with spinal muscular atrophy.
For further information on One Hope Charity, please establish contact via 019-232 2192 or 018-911 4192, or visit its website at www.onehopecharity.org/
Donors will receive a tax exemption receipt that is approved by the Inland Revenue Board.
