DON’T LET ANOTHER CHILD DIE LIKE OUR BELOVED AHMAR
Hidden condition killed sporty teen
A devastated mum whose teenage son died suddenly from a hidden medical condition has launched a petition calling for full body scans for newborn babies.
Sameena Javed, from Paisley, is asking the Scottish Government to take action so that rare and hidden medical conditions are detected early.
She has also launched another petition, calling for bereavement lessons in schools.
Sameena’s sporty 13-year-old son Ahmar had
Ateriovenous Malformation (AVM), which caused him to suddenly develop a bleed on the brain in 2017.
Along with Ahmar’s dad Javed, from Elderslie, she had to take the agonising decision to turn off his life support machine ten days after he suffered the bleed while at a karate class.
The 40-year-old mum is urging Express readers to sign both petitions and said: “I don’t want other families to go through the heartbreak my family felt.
“The condition Ahmar had was totally asymptomatic and no one had any idea.
“We only discovered it after he had a brain bleed and, by then, it was too late to treat or save him.
“I’m calling on the Scottish Government to offer brain and body scans to all neonates in our hospitals.
“I appreciate not every parent will want their baby to be scanned, but surely it’s worth it if a hidden or rare condition can be detected and treated.
“If my son had been offered a brain scan
at birth, his condition could have been detected, potentially treated and he would still be with us now.”
AVM is a very rare condition and is an abnormal connection of veins and arteries.
Sameena added: “Ahmar’s sudden death had a terrible effect on many of his fellow pupils at Castlehead High School.
“The shock hit Ahmar’s young relatives and friends very hard.
“If young people in schools are taught about bereavement and death, then it might be ever so slightly easier for them to understand and cope with the grief that follows losing someone they know and is close to them.”
After Ferguslie Cricket Club cricketer Ahmar - described by his mum as “funny and polite” - died, Sameena launched a charity called Another Star In The Sky to raise money in her son’s name.
Sameena believes there is not enough research into early diagnosis and treatment of AVM.
The charity has raised more than £13,000, with half the money being donated to the Office for Rare Conditions Glasgow at the Royal Hospital for Children and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
This will help fund research into rare illnesses, like the one that killed Ahmar.
The other part of the fund goes to the Child Bereavement UK charity’s Glasgow centre to help offer support to bereaved children and families.
Ahmar’s school pals at Castlehead High had been given a statue of the Oor Wullie cartoon character to paint by intu Braehead and then put on display in the centre as part of the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail.
And the pupils decided they would paint the statue in Ahmar’s honour and write messages to him on Oor Wullie’s arm.
Go to https:// bit. ly/ 3lPkzyl to find out more and sign Sameena’s petition for body scanning, and https:// bit. ly/ 32XHz5G to view the bereavement education petition.