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An unidentified donor has stepped in to help a 4-year-old boy from the United Kingdom get the potentially life-saving treatment he needs to battle a rare type of cancer.
Hannah Oliver-Willetts has been desperately trying to raise funds to help her son, Zac Oliver, who was diagnosed with near haploid leukemia in May, according to a donation page set up for the family.
The cancer is so rare that Zac is the only child diagnosed with the disease in the U.K. After going through three rounds of chemotherapy that may not sure him — with a particularly harmful fourth cycle scheduled for November — Zac’s parents found a successful treatment for their son’s cancer battle that has improved the likelihood of survival of patients by almost 80 percent.
But the treatment, called CAR-T therapy, is not yet available in the U.K, reports the BBC, which means the family will have to travel to the United States in order to save Zac’s life.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has offered to treat Zac, and while the hospital kindly slashed the price of the treatment from $1,250,000 to $625,000, the family worried about how they would be able to pay for the bill along with other expenses, such as traveling and flight costs, their donation page explains.
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While they were able to raise funds on their Just Giving page, it wasn’t until the family received a call from a generous stranger on Monday that their hopes were realized.
Hannah was phoned by a “mystery man” who said he was so moved by Zac’s story that he was donating $130,000 to the family to get their boy the help he needs. While they didn’t know whether to believe the stranger on the phone, the money appeared that same day.
“This is our dream, this is everything we wanted,” Zac’s grandmother, Annette Oliver, told Huffington Post UK. “It’s Christmas, it’s better.”
When Hannah asked who the man was, he simply replied that his name wasn’t necessary.
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“It doesn’t matter who I am, the most important person here is Zac,” he told Hannah, according to HuffPost.
The family has now met their initial funding requirement and are planning to arrive in Philadelphia before the start of November for Zac’s 17-week treatment. They are still accepting donations on their donation page to help with future doctors appointments for Zac.
“Hopefully, we will come back with a cured little boy who will get his life back,” Hannah told the BBC.
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