Since inception, Al Jalila Foundation has encouraged thousands of motivated individuals and teams to raise funds by taking part in sports challenges. These endurance runs, triathlons, marathons and more have been instrumental to raising awareness and providing hope to patients suffering from chronic illnesses.

One of our greatest athletic Champions of Hope, Wendelin Lauxen, has once again completed the 7 Emirates Run to ‘get children back on their feet’.

In 2010 driven by his passion for running, Wendelin, holder of Guinness World Record for ‘Fastest time to complete a marathon on all 7 continents’, ran 575 kms solo across the UAE in 12 days. A chance meeting in 2013 with a little boy with severe congenital limb deformities and the allure of the UAE’s landscape inspired Wendelin to launch the 7 Emirates Run in partnership with Al Jalila Foundation.

Wendelin has organised the 7 Emirates Run under the slogan “Run for Help, Run for Health, Run for Fun”, and over 7 years has raised an astonishing AED 1.5 million for Al Jalila Foundation, to support life-changing surgery and postoperative medical support for children who suffer from deformities or amputation.

Giving children the gift of mobility is all the reward Wendelin could hope for, however, on completion of his recent solo 7 Emirates Run, he was recognised by the Dubai Sports Council for extraordinary athletic achievements and charitable endeavours.

Through the Ta’alouf Parents Training Program, Al Jalila Foundation works to empower parents to bring out the greatest potential in their children of determination.

Although 2020 was a challenging year and parents training was held virtually, parents like Rola were only too eager to jump on the opportunity to enroll as with her usually very demanding schedule she was able to attend at home.

As a mother of a child of determination, Rola had adapted to life and developed her skills to better care for her son, understand his needs and build on his strengths to bring out his greatest potential. The Ta’alouf program solidified her understanding and put a great deal of attention on many new helpful tools and strategies that she had not yet discovered. Not only that but she now understood completely how and why these tools would benefit both her son and her family.

Rola expressed: “The experience was fun and rich with information for parents, during which I discovered that no matter how different the diagnosis is, there are some things in common between the children of determination. I also benefited from the program by learning the different ways to deal with people with autism spectrum disorders and understanding there are different levels of these disorders”.

In our mission to transform lives, Al Jalila Foundation connects with community partners to support our work and fulfill our collective goals. In 2020, we are proud to have partnered with Heroes of Hope, a not-for-profit group founded by Hollie Murphy to develop and support the sporting, social and interpersonal skills for people of determination.

In providing diverse sports programs year after year and attending events, Heroes of Hope has built a strong supportive community for athletes of determination and their families. The organisation serves athletes as young as 4, however the focus is on individual athlete progression across many sporting disciplines and ability levels which caters to all ages including adults.

Heroes of Hope works tirelessly to create opportunities and pathways for all of their athletes to reach their sporting potential and accomplish their own individual dreams. Their athletes have many achievements to date including having 11 athletes of determination compete in the Garmin Quest Hatta challenge, where for the first time the nation witnessed these athletes compete and finish a very gruelling adventure race. Additionally, many of their athletes have competed in the Special Olympics World Games and its founder, Hollie Murphy, hosted the Inclusion Games in 2018.

In order to continue to grow the Heroes of Hope community and offer the much-needed support to their athletes, they have invited partners from corporates to individuals to get involved and contribute. Through their HopaSports fundraising page the Heroes of hope have already raised AED 30,000. But this is just the beginning. With much bigger goals on the horizon, they need all the help they can get and you can donate here to help the team move mountains for athletes of determination.

The world fell into the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic and Ms Rehad had to continue the Ta’alouf Teachers Training program online and translate her newly honed skills working from home and conducting classes remotely to assist all the children of determination in her classroom.

A testament to her determination, Ms Rehad implemented the Ta’alouf components of global best practice methods, and she was able to achieve great results by working seamlessly in partnership with parents to meet the needs of students of determination in a holistic manner.

A wide range of resources and technology has provided the students at the school with a structured inclusion program that enhances their performance and provides teachers with various tools to engage students of determination.

Thanks to completing the Ta’alouf program, Al Hikmah Private School is fully inclusive, has flourished despite the challenges, and firmly developed the confidence of teachers to engage and meet the needs of students of determination.

Having been diagnosed with acute blood cancer (leukemia) in 2017, 5-year-old Naya had undergone a full round of chemotherapy and was receiving maintenance treatment in Syria although she and her family were living in the UAE. As her condition was stable, she would regularly travel back and forth to see her doctors but since February 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions, she was unable to travel to maintain her therapy. Unfortunately, during this period her father was made redundant making the situation very difficult for the family.

By May 2020 Naya was admitted to the emergency room after suffering from severe symptoms from her illness such as constant headaches, fatigue, fever and nausea. Through further clinical investigation and blood results it was revealed she had relapsed and needed to begin a new chemotherapy plan urgently.

The young girl’s medical team are familiar with Al Jalila Foundation’s A’awen program and submitted an application to support her case and Naya was able to receive the much needed treatment.

Naya has completed her treatment plan and is now preparing to travel to India to receive a bone marrow transplant in which her brother will be the donor.

It is thanks to the support of our donors that Al Jalila Foundation is able to offer life-saving treatment to young patients like Naya. To see how you can be a part of making a difference in patients’ lives please click here.

In May 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic and to strengthen the national capabilities to deal with viral diseases, Al Jalila Foundation offered an exclusive international postgraduate scholarship to UAE nationals to undertake studies at world class international universities in the medical fields of: virology, genetics and genomics, nanotechnology, stem cells, immunology and biomedical data science.

Driven by widespread interest from the medical community several applications were received from the brightest minds in the country and after a rigorous review process, the successful candidate Abdulrahman Alzarooni received the scholarship to study for a Master of Medical Genetics and Genomics (MSc Med Sci) at the University of Glasgow, UK.

Abdulrahman, who holds Bachelor of Science in Biology, has always been fascinated by how DNA carries information to create our bodies and only small mutations can cause genetic diseases. Through projects in sequencing DNA and researching stem cells, he realised how the field of genetics can contribute to diagnosing and treating diseases fueling his interest in the field of genetics, gene editing, gene therapy, and biotechnology.

Abdulrahman hopes to become an expert in his field and bring his knowledge and expertise to the UAE, “This scholarship from Al Jalila Foundation is an incredible opportunity for me to be part of the research community and an active contributor to the biomedical sector in my country.

Most therapies prescribed for genetic diseases treat the symptoms and not the cause and my dream is to contribute in designing therapies for patients who suffer from diseases with no available therapy giving them a new life without lifelong medication or lifestyle restrictions.”

In June 2020, the story of young kidney patient Pritvik touched the hearts of the nation as His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum offered to support the family through this difficult time. Pritvik was born with small, partially functioning kidneys and in early 2020 suffered kidney failure and required immediate renal replacement therapy.

Pritvik is an exceptionally talented young boy; he is as an official affiliated researcher at Beyond Center, a published co-author on NASA’s Primer on Astrobiology and a World Science Scholar. However, his medical condition was taking a heavy toll on his school and research.

Pritvik’s father, Bhaskar Sinhadc, was identified as a successful donor match. The groundbreaking transplant was funded by Al Jalila Foundation and successfully carried out by a team of physicians from Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) and Mediclinic Middle East, marking the UAE’s first pediatric kidney transplant from a live donor.

The operation, which has saved Pritvik’s life, is also expected to improve the quality of his life in the years ahead.

Dr Abdulkareem Sultan Al Olama, CEO, Al Jalila Foundation, said: “Through our A’awen program we are helping parents give their children the opportunity to undergo the latest medical procedures at world-class medical institutions, offering them renewed hope for their child’s future. It has been a privilege to be part of Pritvik’s inspirational story and we wish him a speedy recovery.”

Pritvik, who was named a UAE Ambassador of Organ Donation, said: “I have been lucky to have my father as my donor. However, there are many who need transplants to survive. I pledge to raise awareness on the crucial need for organ donation in saving lives of patients like me, who would otherwise not make it without a transplant.”

Watch Pritvik describe his experience in his own words here.

11-year-old Emirati Shamsa AlMheiri recently lost her beloved grandfather to cancer and wanted to find a way to pay tribute to him. She decided a fitting tribute would be to raise awareness and funds for cancer research to improve the lives of patients suffering with the disease that cuts so many lives short.

In her quest, Shamsa came up with the brilliant idea to swim the equivalent of the English Channel 34kms over 10 days in her pool at home to raise funds for Al Jalila Foundation. She setup a fundraising campaign on YallaGive and rallied her friends and family to get behind her cause to support cancer research. After swimming over 2000 laps, approximately 200 laps a day, young Shamsa raised almost AED 18,000 smashing her initial target.

Shamsa spoke about her passion to complete this challenge, “Unfortunately, we all know someone who has been affected by this terrible illness. This cause is very close to my heart and I dedicate it to my Granddad Mekki Mahmoud Abdulla who changed my world and now I hope to change the world too. I know that one small act of kindness can create a ripple that can spread hope across the whole world.”

It is because of people like young philanthropist Shamsa, who want to do their part to make a difference, that we are able transform lives. In appreciation for Shamsa’s fundraising efforts, Al Jalila Foundation was delighted to add her name to Bassmat Rashid Bin Saeed donor recognition wall.

As a bright young student, Saad Syed was drawn to medicine and was overjoyed to learn he had been awarded a scholarship from Al Jalila Foundation to continue his studies at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU).

By attaining this scholarship, Saad can follow his passion for medicine and he finds himself developing every day. Saad’s medical student experience has truly enriched his life and encouraged him to develop life skills such as problem solving and empathy which has allowed his creativity to shine through.

At MBRU Saad has a rich student life and engages in several programs including the Summer Scholar’s program which allows students to explore their passions by participating in clinical observerships, clinical research and volunteering at local and international hospitals and institutes to broaden their vision of healthcare of today.

Through his experiences Saad recognised a large gap in the field of research and developed a strong passion for innovation. Saad hopes to work in the field of medical education and produce relevant research papers and is enthusiastic to take a proactive role in medicine.

“My ultimate goal is open but I believe that with technology advancing exponentially the roles of doctors will be vastly different from what they are today, and I hope to fulfill those responsibilities and expectations of the doctor of the future.”