'Offering hope': Government donates €250,000 to leukaemia stricken father
Fundraising campaign for specialist medical treatment in Singapore had reached 70% of its target in just two days
Updated 7.53pm
The government will donate €250,000 to a father raising funds for specialist medical treatment in Singapore for a rare and aggressive form of leukaemia.
By Saturday afternoon, Sandro Grech's fundraising campaign had raised almost 70 per cent of its target in just two days.
The 41-year old had raised €348,754 of the €500,000 he needs to cover costs for potentially life-saving treatment in Singapore.
The father of two has undergone intensive chemotherapy and two bone marrow transplants in the past three years to battle the disease. His only remaining chance of survival is a highly specialised CD7 CAR-T clinical trial which is only available in Singapore.
On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced via a social media post that the government will be donating €250,000 through the Finance and Health ministries "to offer hope".
"Sandro's story has once again shown how, as a united people, we are capable of demonstrating the very best of what makes us Maltese: solidarity," Abela wrote on Facebook.
The prime minister added he had met Grech when he had visited the families being cared for by Puttinu Cares in the UK.
"I could see the determination and courage he posseses, even in such a difficult moment," Abela continued.
Moved by Grech’s ordeal, contemporary artist James Vella Clarke has offered one of his latest paintings for a silent auction to help raise funds.
“His story is heart-breaking and as a father myself, I can only come close to imaging how harrowing all this must feel,” Vella Clarke said in a social media post on Saturday.
“Chronicles in Colour”, which featured in his latest exhibition, was meant to remain in the artist’s private collection “because it is a special piece” but Vella Clarke said he would be “happier knowing it’s been acquired for a worthy cause”.
Bids start from €1,000 and can be sent directly to the artist through his Facebook page. The silent auction ends on Sunday at 6pm.