Skip to main content
KBS_Icon_questionmark link-ico
volunteer meds hero ;

Student raises funds for child's lifesaving surgery

King’s student Mohammad Enam Ahmod has, over the past three years, dedicated his time outside of medical school to fundraising and charity work.

During his second year as a GKT School of Medical Education student, Enam led a fundraising team with Human Relief Foundation to build the first ever disability and rehabilitation centre in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan for Syrian refugee children and their families.

The Centre is an environment where children with various disabilities are supported and where families are educated on how to take care of them, so they can live healthy, productive and dignified lives.

In 2016, Enam travelled to Jordan with Human Relief Foundation to visit families that the Centre would be supporting and to see how the donations would be used. While there he met Ahmad, a baby boy with a congenital heart defect.

At only four months old, Ahmad suffered from an illness that prevented the oxygen in the blood from circulating round his the body properly. He urgently needed a £10,000 operation in the next seven days.

As a medical student, I asked his father if his fingers turned blue. He replied, with great strength in his voice, that his entire body turns blue. We were dumbfounded. They would take him outside in the sun to help his body return to its normal skin colour.– King’s Student, Mohammad Enam Ahmod

Ahmad’s family could not afford his surgery, so Enam led the team in Jordan to mobilise efforts in the UK. The team set to work and in less than two hours had raised the £10,000 needed for the lifesaving surgery.

Mohammad said: 'The campaign was led by students. Every single one of us is still in education and struggling financially. But you can always do something.'

Ahmad went on to make a full recovery and is now doing very well. His family are eternally grateful to all those who donated.

In 2016, Enam was nominated for the Dr Abbas Khan Medal for his outstanding contribution to humanitarian work. The Dr Abbas Khan Medal was established in 2015 to provide a lasting tribute to the extraordinary humanitarian contribution of alumnus Dr Abbas Khan. Dr Khan graduated in medicine from King’s in 2006 and went on to become an orthopaedic surgeon. He tragically passed away in 2013 after he was detained for undertaking humanitarian work in Syria.

Latest news