Kerala RJ's Appeal Helped Raise Rs 18 Cr for Boy With Rare Disease

With the RJ's help, the family of little Muhammed was able to raise Rs 18 crore for his treatment.

With RJ Musafir's help, the family of little Muhammed was able to raise Rs 18 crore for his treatment.

(Photo Courtesy: RJ Musafir/Instagram)

By the time Musafir was approached, Mariamma and Rafeeque had knocked on many doors, tried many ways out.

The couple, whose son Muhammad has a rare condition, were seeking help to raise a huge amount of money for the medicine that could save his life.

The story of how little Muhammed, born with spinal muscular atrophy, was saved by the generous crowdfunding, has since become famous. The family was able to raise Rs 18 crore in just one week. Musafir, a radio jockey based in Kannur, talks of the part he played in it.

“It is the Janakeeya Committee – a charity group – that came to me with the problem. By then the boy’s family had made a small video with the mother’s voiceover, saying how bad the situation was. If the medicine didn’t come soon, they feared he might end up in a wheelchair like his eldest sibling, who was also born with the same condition. So I created a video, talking about the problem and giving details of the bank account where people could make their donations. This video went viral and helped bring the money in,” says Musafir.

On his wife’s advice, Musafir put English subtitles to the video so contributions can come from people outside of the state who didn’t follow Malayalam.

Muhammed needed a single dose of the drug Zolgensma from the United States, which costs Rs 18 crore, and it had to be administered before he turned two.

He is now one and a half years old. His eldest sibling, now 15, could not avail of the medicine and the disease eventually put them in a wheelchair. Muhammed has one more sibling, who is healthy.

Within three hours of Musafir’s video being uploaded on the internet, as much as Rs 25 lakh was collected.

"On 30 June the video came out. My friends began calling me, saying they saw the video. That’s when I posted it too."

Musafir, Radio Jockey

In six days, the required amount came into the parents’ bank account from across the world. “Even the committee had not expected it. They were aiming to make the amount in four months,” Musafir says.

Musafir, who is also a cartoonist, was duly honoured by the Cartoon Club of Kerala for his role in saving the boy’s life. “They ran an online exhibition to honour me, with a number of caricatures of me,” says a proud Musafir.

He is from Matool in Kannur, the same place that Muhammed and his parents Mariamma and Rafeeque are from. He works as an RJ with Red FM, doing a morning show on social issues.