Singapore Footballer Amy Recha, a player for S.League’s Geylang International, took to Facebook on 8 June to appeal for funds to help pay for his nephew’s mounting medical bills. The 25-year-old forward player’s call for donations to offset the $43,000 medical bill was answered swiftly as people have donated close to $60,000 in just two days.
Young Muhammad Raffique Rayfal was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at National University Hospital (NUH) to undergo surgeries as he was diagnosed with cerebral abscess. The child, who is just over a year old, suffers from one or more cysts in his brain that need to be surgically removed.
As Amy Recha’s sister – the boy’s mother – is from Johor Bahru, her son is served as an international patient at NUH. Raffique has undergone 2 surgeries at NUH so far. The first surgery on 3 June was a craniotomy, that is a procedure where part of the skull is removed, to extract blood clots from the child’s brain. During the second procedure two days later on 5 June, the child underwent an external ventricular drain which is used to relieve elevated intracranial pressure.
Amy posted an update on his Facebook page today: “We were told by the nurse in charge that baby is getting better. However, he can’t focus when visitors are talking to him.. He will be discharged from ICU soon and transfer over to normal ward. He still needs a lot of rest.
“Alhamdulilah, we’ve managed to collect $50,959 for baby Raffique. Please don’t stop donating.. Keep it coming please. We were told by the doctor in charge that Baby Raffique has to undergo few rounds of surgeries. Every two weeks, doctor will need to remove the tubes as there’s purulent discharge.”
For more updates or information on how to give, visit Amy’s Facebook post here.