Mariyam Malsha, aged 7, passed away at 9:30 pm on the 28th of December 2008 at the Christian Medical College, Vellore India. Mariyam's Bone Marrow Transplant went well, however, after 2 weeks Mariyam became acutely septic and lapsed into a coma from which she did not recover.

In 2006, following a meeting with the Maldivian Ministry of Health in Male', our good friend Iboo (Hussein Areef) escorted the committee to the Thalassaemia Centre which was in walking proximity. This is where we first met Mariyam then aged 5, and her family. Mariyam was a beautiful, happy yet shy Maldivian girl. Mariyam also suffered from Beta Thalassaemia Major and was undergoing 2 blood transfusions' every month just to stay alive. Her family naturally wanted to improve her longevity and quality of life, however they did not have the means of raising the funds required for a Bone Marrow Transport.

On return to Australia the SMA and the Rotary Club of Brookvale entered into a joint venture to help raise funds for Mariyams BMT. Overall, we were able to raise approximately $20,000.

In spite of their overwhelming grief Mariyam’s parents wanted to thank the SMA and the Rotary Club of Brookvale for all of their assistance throughout this time.

In March the committee will meet and decide what we can do to make life somewhat less painful, if that is possible, for Mariyam’s parent’s and 9 year old sister Aishath who was the donor. If you have any suggesstions please forward them to me.

I personally would like to thank everyone who assisted me with this project particularly Iboo, Mr John Lang, Mr Paul Featherstone and Mr Balamurali Krishna from the Vellore Rotary Club who was kind enough to act as our agent making frequent visits to the family whilst in hospital.

Harry Gatt