ANA-MPA — After receiving the all-clear from Germany, the family of an 11-year-old Syrian refugee suffering from cancer have been allowed to join him in Munich, where he is undergoing treatment. Rami’s mother, brothers and his cousin will leave on a flight from Thessaloniki airport, Greece, on Wednesday, accompanied by an employee of the Thessaloniki regional asylum office where the family submitted an asylum request on Monday. Once they arrive in Munich, German authorities will take over their case.
Rami, a boy from Syria who was in Germany with his father, has been receiving treatment for Hodgkins lymphoma at Munich’s University Hospital for the past four months. He urgently needs a bone marrow transplant and his immediate family, such as his mother and brothers, are the most likely donors.
Rami, who is 11 years old and not seven as initially reported, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma five years ago – just after the start of the war in Syria began. While he was in hospital, his family was displaced from their home in Tadamoun by violence. His father and Rami eventually made their way to Germany via the smuggling routes, where the boy was able to continue his therapy in a hospital.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday , his mother Manal Babouli said she submitted a request to reunite the family to the relevant Greek authorities. The family are possible compatible donors for Rami and getting in Germany in time is crucial for saving the life of the young boy.
Speaking of her family’s turmoil in Syria, she said: “I couldn’t take him to the hospital any more so I decided to take him to Lebanon where he continued his therapy for another seven months. But the high cost [of treatment] forced us to leave together for Turkey where Rami was hospitalized for three months until his doctor send him along with his father, at his own expense, to the University hospital in Munich, where he has been treated in the past 4 months.”
Babouli also has three more children aged 3, 8, 14, as well as an 18-year-old nephew, with whom they all crossed the Aegean on February 22. She said she reached Idomeni in a few days and when she realized the borders would not open, she appealed to Greek NGO “Arsis,” who set them up in a hotel in Thessaloniki.
Rami’s story, which was published in the international media, moved both German and Greek authorities, who took action to find them and launched fast-track procedures to reunite the family.
