Seriously ill children are having their wishes granted this Ramadan as part of a charity campaign run by the Dreams Society in Bahrain.

The ‘30 Dreams in 30 Days’ initiative aims to create a lasting happy memory for children aged between four and 18 who suffer from terminal illnesses and debilitating diseases such as cancer, thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Around BD30,000 ($79,034) has been raised so far through the campaign, which is creating a buzz across Bahraini social media to the benefit of children such as 11-year-old Khalifa Ali.

Khalifa is battling leukaemia but has always dreamt of being a social media sensation and thanks to the Dreams Society he rose to fame in less than two hours with hashtags featuring his name cropping up all across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

“We put out a brief message about Khalifa’s dream of becoming famous, along with links to his Instagram account, and whoever got the message sent it to all their lists and the message spread widely in a very short period,” said society vice-chairman Aysha Fakhro.

“Khalifa had 330 followers on his Instagram account at 4pm on Tuesday but within just two hours that number rose to more than 1,000.

“What we did proves that no dream is too hard to achieve and that we will do anything to put a smile on children’s faces.”

Khalifa is not the only child to benefit from the Dreams Society initiative – Mishal, a six-year-old boy suffering from cancer, wants to meet the Saudi national football team while Zainab, 17, suffers from sickle cell anaemia and dreams of a shopping trip to Paris.

Dana is a four-year-old cancer sufferer who wants nothing more than to meet her favourite cartoon character ‘Daisy Duck’ at a Disney theme park, while fellow cancer sufferer Maria, aged 6, dreams of meeting His Majesty King Hamad.

Fakhro told the GDN that the society would strive to make all of these children’s dreams come true before the end of Ramadan.

“This is the second edition of the Ramadan campaign and we have come to realise how much people in Bahrain are really willing to give anything just to bring joy to the lives of these children,” she said.

“We now have a huge database of volunteers and have raised around BD30,000 from sponsors and members of the public.

“Some dreams can be costly, especially trips to places around the world, because we don’t only have to arrange it for the child but also for members of their families because the children are not psychologically prepared to do things alone.”

All eligible children are selected by the society’s medical team and their wishes prioritised based upon the severity of their condition, Fakhro said.

“Prioritising is important because we have previously had some incidents where the children were admitted to the hospital before we were able to grant their wish,” she said.

“We have a medical team, which selects the children based on their condition just to guarantee that we leave a beautiful memory in their life, which will also be appreciated by their parents forever.”

Since being established in August 2011, the Dreams Society has granted the wishes of around 60 children suffering from severe illnesses.

The GDN reported last year on its efforts to help a child suffering from leukaemia become a hero for a day.

A “fake” bag theft was orchestrated with the help of Bahraini directors to create the right environment for Abbas Fadhel Al Haiki to actually “fight” the villain alongside his favourite superhero Spiderman.

Abbas was watching the Amazing Spiderman 2 with his parents and five siblings when the incident happened and was encouraged by one of the actors playing the role of Spiderman to join him in fighting the “robber”.

After several minutes of chasing the robber, Abbas and Spiderman caught him and handed him over to the “authorities”.

The duo walked out of the cinema to a crowd cheering Abbas’ name and holding posters and placards. - TradeArabia News Service