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PETALING JAYA: More donations are pouring in for 13-year-old Kalliswary Chandrasegaran and her cancer-stricken mother, Vijayaletchumy Subramaniam, 51, after their plight was highlighted in theSun over the past two days.
The donations and commitments have now accumulated to RM33,285, with Hamidi Mookkaiyah, a retired teacher and part-time lecturer at University Tunku Abdul Rahman, being among the latest to contact theSun.
Hamidi, who runs Hamidi’s Comrades in Charity (HCIC), an NGO made up entirely of teachers, said it plans to raise RM10,000 for the family.
“We plan to raise RM10,000 internally from our members and so far we have collected RM7,000. We intend to purchase a motorised wheelchair for Vijayaletchumy so it will be easier for her to move around in the little time she has left.
“We have also handed over RM300 to Vijayaletchumy to help cover her immediate needs, such as food and some medical expenses,” said Hamidi.
His charity provides financial aid to those in need and runs a teacher-volunteer education programme for underprivileged students.
“Recently we carried out a back-to-school programme and provided 50 school bags to Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Telok Datok Banting, and for the needy in the Klang area,” he said.
HCIC also distributes food vouchers and food baskets to B40 communities to help ease their living expenses.
“This has helped at least some of the families to put more nutritious food on the table and reduce their financial burden a little,” he said.
The family’s plight was first highlighted on Tuesday when it was reported that Vijayaletchumy only had a few months to live as her initial breast cancer had since spread to her neck, lungs and nerves.
Vijayaletchumy, a single parent and widow, is mostly bedridden and her only child, Kalliswary, who is a Form One student in SMK Taman Melawati, has had to look after her on her own.
The family lives in Kampung Fajar in Ampang and has no relatives to depend on for help.
They had appealed to the public for help as they need RM1,000 monthly to pay for Vijayaletchumy’s cancer treatment, which includes dressings and pills, groceries, utility bills and Grab car rides to take her to the hospital and back, which alone costs RM50 each time.
