Jonah, 17, needs £300k to buy lifechanging drug
A TEENAGER battling his second life-threatening illness in two years has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the £300,000 a year it will cost for his medicine.
Jonah Gillingham, 17, was diagnosed with leukaemia in June last year, and had to have intensive radiotherapy, chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
Having survived that ordeal, earlier this year he was diagnosed with an extremely rare disease called Atypical haemolytic-uremic syndrome (aHUS).
Health and Social Services is paying for a 12-week 'rescue remedy' of the medicine, but will not pay for it after that.
With the possible alternative being receiving dialysis or plasma treatment three times a week – at between four and seven hours a time, plus flights to and from Southampton – the family are now trying to raise the cash to pay for the treatment.
His mum, Sonia, said the family were not angry with HSSD, but wanted to try and to persuade them to fund the drug. 'When he was diagnosed with aHUS, we were advised the drug was Eculizumab, and that it was very expensive.
If you want to support Jonah and his family you can do so at http://bit.ly/1Is4YcY.
https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/jonah-gillingham. You can also visit https://www.facebook.com/Jonah-Can-Beat-Cancer-1509340829344367/?fref=ts
