00:00 Without warning, Samir Ali went from an active, healthy, upper sixth student of Shiva Boys Hindu College
00:08 to the young man you see here.
00:11 At 16 years old, he was diagnosed with a rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis.
00:19 He was normal, healthy, he never was sick or anything.
00:23 I just noticed he started to lose a lot of weight fast and then he started to get yellow.
00:30 They found out it was PSC that I had and they told me it was extremely rare for someone my age to have this
00:39 because it usually happens to older people.
00:43 They told me they would try with steroids and medicine to see if we could open back the tubes
00:51 and then to prevent the bad lucks from dripping.
00:56 But after medication for almost five years, it just barely keeping it from dripping.
01:06 So they told me at the start that liver transplant would have been the absolutely last solution they had.
01:15 And since now it comes down to actually having a liver transplant, that this really is the only thing I have left.
01:22 In 2020, when he thought the disease could be managed, Samir, having lost 60 pounds, visibly jaundiced
01:31 and with uncontrollably itchy skin, took on odd jobs, trying to pay his way through an IT and networking degree
01:39 with the hope of one day working in the field of cyber security.
01:44 It's still his dream today, but it has been put on pause as all efforts have to be put into raising money
01:51 for his life-saving surgery.
01:54 His mother tells TV6 News she is a blood match and pending further tests will be his donor.
02:02 But the procedure is not done in Trinidad, so instead they reached out to a hospital in India.
02:09 They had taken Samir, they sent us all the papers and everything.
02:15 They were willing to take him in with at least half the cost to start the treatment because of the seriousness of it.
02:28 Afterwards they say while we are up there, the rest can be sent to them.
02:32 The target of the money is $500,000.
02:36 We have reached about close to, we raised about $40,000 and the government has given us $10,000.
02:48 So we reached about basically close to $100,000.
02:52 So we have more or less like $400,000 again to make up.
02:56 His doctors in Trinidad have recommended that the transplant be done within a matter of weeks.
03:03 Dr. Nish Jagannath tells us while she is more than willing to donate her liver,
03:08 it won't matter if they are unable to raise the funds in time.
03:14 My concern right now is trying to give Samir a chance to have a life.
03:18 He hasn't had any time to have a life because from 16 years and he's 20, going to 21 now, he has been sick.
03:27 There is no alternative. We don't have any backup because we don't have that type of money.
03:35 We don't have any things that we could sell or do to raise that kind of money.
03:43 If you would like to assist this family, they can be contacted at 712-4369
03:51 or donations can be made to the Republic Bank account in their names.
03:57 Account number 330-021-251901.
04:05 Cindy Raghubar-Teghasingh, TV6 News.
04:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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