HOTEL SOS FOR LEUKAEMIA LAD
Desperate dad hit by new cost
THE dad of a brave Nigerian boy is pleading for help with hotel bills as his son gets lifesaving care for leukaemia.
Nathaniel Nabena, nine, left Great Ormond Street Hospital on Monday after his first round of chemotherapy went very well.
But Nathaniel and dad Ebisidor have been told to stay 30 minutes from the London hospital in case of an emergency – so they are paying £53 a night at a Premier Inn.
Nathaniel lost his left eye due to cancer and, in November, Ebi, 45, brought him to the UK from south
Nigeria to have a prosthetic eye fitted. But while here the boy fell ill with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Nathaniel needs a stem cell transplant to live, and Sunday People readers helped raise £70,000 of a £700,000 bill to start treatment. As a Nigerian national he cannot get free NHS care, and the treatment cannot be done in Nigeria. Ebi said: “Every time you cross a path there’s a new obstacle.
“I’m at my wits end, I have no idea what to do.
“Doctors say Nathaniel is responding very well but we have no choice but to pay to be near hospital. We may need the hotel for months, and won’t have the funds for the next stage.” They were staying with eight others at a relative’s three-bed flat in Croydon, South London, but specialists warned it could be an infection risk.
Yesterday Nathaniel was reunited with his mum Modupe, 38, and sisters Nadia, 11, and Nicole, 21 months, for the first time in a month.
Ebi said: “It was emotional. We are so grateful for support – we are taking it one day at a time.”
Great Ormond Street Hospital said: “Our teams are working with Nathaniel to provide the best care.” ■