Australian-Lebanese mother-of-two Lama Andari is a warrior. But for this mother, it is her four-year-old son, Samy - who is being treated for cancer - who is the true hero in her life.
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/uae/international-womens-day-meet-the-inspirational-expats-serving-the-uae-community-1.94232135
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #Lebanese #Dubai
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, everyone. It's International Women's Day. And with us, we have a very special guest.
00:13Her name is Lama Andhari. Welcome to Gulf News and for this lovely interview. For me
00:20personally, Lama Andhari is a super warrior. She's a mother of a four-year-old who is being
00:26treated for leukemia. The little boy, the little super warrior himself was diagnosed
00:33when he was two years old. And since then, Lama has taken it upon herself to really work
00:41on children's cancer, raise awareness, and more importantly, remove the taboo of cancer
00:50that's associated with children's, you know, treatment and cancer in particular. She has
00:57come out with this book. It's called Super Kids. It's an amazing book. It's also been
01:03illustrated by a 12-year-old. Maybe it's quite the first, right? And she has also launched
01:12a social enterprise. It's called Aptalana. In Arabic, it means our super warriors. So
01:18thank you so much, Lama, for being here. So tell us about you, your journey in the
01:25last two years. Obviously, it's been quite a change for you as well, being a mother,
01:32you know, and you did mention that you were carrying your second child when the news came
01:38in. So how has it been for you? Thank you. First of all, I want to say hello to everyone
01:43and thank you and thank the entire Gulf News team for this amazing opportunity. It's only
01:48together that we can share awareness through media. And as you said, childhood cancer should
01:53not be a taboo topic. We should talk about it or else parents and children alike will
01:58not know what childhood cancer is about. My own experience was going through it with my
02:03child at the age of two. We first noticed that he had a limp. He wasn't walking properly.
02:08And then we noticed that he couldn't lift his arm and he had random fevers. So those
02:12were obviously red flags and we immediately took him to the pediatrician. And within two
02:17weeks, we found out that he had childhood cancer, specifically leukemia. Twenty five
02:21percent of all childhood cancers are leukemia. And he has the most common type, which is
02:26called acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And it was also during covid. And as you mentioned,
02:31I was pregnant with our second child. And it got me thinking a lot that it's so important
02:36that we support families going through it. The parents themselves need support because
02:40obviously it's shattering news to know that your child is going through cancer, especially
02:44when they're so young, months or a few years old. They cannot express themselves. They
02:48cannot tell you what they're going through. The children themselves going through cancer
02:52need a lot of psychological support. And just to know that the community is there for them
02:56and the siblings, because sometimes siblings get left out when we focus so much on the
03:01child going through cancer that we sometimes don't give them enough attention, emotions
03:06and energy. The idea came about with the Aptaluna, which means our superheroes in Arabic, that
03:13we need to, first of all, shed light on childhood cancer. Second thing to support the families
03:19going through cancer. And the third point is to build partnerships with big entities
03:25and individuals, any business that wants to support the childhood cancer cause and the
03:30families themselves. And the fourth point is to organize events, both at a community
03:36scale or through schools, through hospitals, through nurseries, to be able to raise awareness
03:41with the parents, with teachers who spend considerable time with the children and with
03:46the kids themselves. Right. So since the launch of your enterprise, how has been the response?
03:52Honestly, it's been amazing. I expected that people would warm up to the cause because
03:57obviously who wouldn't want to support children? But at the same time, sometimes we fear the
04:02word cancer a bit too much. And I wondered, would anyone out there not feel like they
04:07want to, they're not comfortable? Of course, not everyone is comfortable talking about
04:11childhood cancer, but I've been incredibly impressed by the entities and individuals
04:17who have on their own filled up my partner's form on the website and said, listen, we want
04:21to support the cause. Just tell us how. I've organized a lot of events, one of which where
04:26we are today at Majlis al-Amal Jalila Foundation. They have been very supportive of the cause.
04:31We've organized just recently a panel discussion and just meeting individuals who have gone
04:36through cancer themselves, because obviously they can relate. Adults who go through cancer
04:40will relate to what a child would go through, even though it's not obviously the same experience.
04:45But there are a lot of commonalities. So it's been great being associated and creating partnerships
04:51with individuals and entities. So have you been able to touch lives, like meet families
04:59going through it? And how has been the transformation for them? A lot of people just want to
05:06feel that they can connect with someone who's been through it. They want to vent, especially
05:10as I said, that because it's a taboo, sometimes they don't know who to talk to about it. Just
05:15yesterday, and I invite everyone to go through Aqtaluna's social media. Just yesterday, I
05:20had an Instagram live with a phenomenal human being, a 14 year old girl called Lamar, who's
05:26being treated right now for leukemia. And she said, look, I'm only 14, but I want to
05:31raise awareness. I want to give us children a voice. I told her, I'm more than ready through
05:36Aqtaluna to raise awareness about childhood cancer. And just to be able to create those
05:41opportunities and amplify the voices of children, it's so fulfilling for me. And I know that
05:47a lot has happened so far. A lot of progress has happened so far with Aqtaluna and the
05:51best is yet to come for sure. Right. I think one of the achievements also that you have
05:56made through this effort has been sort of offering services of mental health, free mental
06:04health services, which is simply brilliant. Because I think whether families affected,
06:10they obviously they're going through a lot of mental. Sometimes we focus way too much
06:16on the chemical side of the treatment and we forget the importance of nourishing not
06:22just our body, but also our mind and our soul. And this is where psychological support plays
06:26a very big role. And it's not always attainable here. There's also a stigma that I'm not going
06:32to reach out for mental health because I don't know who to go to or I'm not I don't need
06:36it. We all need mental health support. We all need a channel where we can vent, whether
06:41with a friend or family member, a professional, a coach, a psychologist, etc. So through the
06:47partnerships that I'm creating with Aqtaluna, I'm working on a lot of initiatives whereby
06:52we can support for free the parents who are going through childhood cancer with their
06:57children and the children themselves, as well as their siblings. Because if we can create
07:03an ecosystem that allows us to nourish one another and be there for one another, then
07:08we can succeed all together as a community. And these services will be provided free?
07:12Definitely. That's the aim. And this is what I'm working on so far. Because it's not fair
07:17that after everything that children and the family have gone through to also pay for services
07:21like that.
07:22All right. I did go through this book. And it's very nice on how you've sort of created
07:28the whole story of people going into different rooms in a hospital. And so there are, so
07:37the wordings are very sensitive to what children will be going through and even the families.
07:44So some of the lines here we read, we must beware of naughty cells and let our super
07:49powers fight. We take some magic potions to conquer them with all our might. So these
07:54are just a few lines. If you would like to know more about Aqtaluna, please do follow
08:02Lama's Instagram handles.
08:04Yes, it's Aqtaluna. A-B-T-A-L-U-N-A.
08:08Yes. And also, if you do know of anyone needing support, and or if you are one of them, then
08:16do please do not hesitate to contact Lama.
08:19Yes. Thank you. I just want to mention that February 15 is Childhood Cancer Day. So February
08:24is an important month to raise awareness within each of your communities, with your friends,
08:28with your family, at schools, at your entities. I'm organizing a lot of parent workshops
08:33and workshops for employees and for the children to raise awareness about childhood cancer.
08:37We can all play a role to raise awareness together and support our super kids.
08:42On that very impressive note, thank you all so much. This is Anjana Kumar for Gulf News.