Anyone who has read
this guff down the years will know all about my friend Rodney McCune. He's a very talented young
man. A barrister by trade, I covered his first trial in the Old Bailey
exclusively for the Coleraine Times. He's stood for Parliament a few
times and will, in time, get a seat. He's been on The Richard
and Judy Show after making a citizen's arrest, also getting him in the Daily
Mail. And he was groomsman on my wedding day. Did a very good job
too.
Rodney married a very
nice lady from Uzbekistan called Firuza, which brings me on to the
reason for this post.
Their wedding took
place five years ago in Firuza's native land. Their youngest guest was a
little girl named Samira. She had her whole life ahead of her and, by all
accounts, enjoyed her day.
Speaking to Claire
McNeilly at the Belfast Telegraph earlier this week, Rodney took up the story.
"Samira was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in May
2014," he said. "I was devastated when I recently became aware of how
ill she is.
"Uzbekistan is not the wealthiest country in the world, but
Samira's family and friends managed to scrape together £50,000 to pay for the
treatment in Moscow over the last 12 months.
"Now, though, they are struggling to raise more money and that's
why I wanted to do something to help."
He added: "There is no National Health Service there. Samira and
her mother are completely on their own."
Rodney and Firuza now live in Belfast, and are mum and dad to Charlie
who has a cheeky smile.
"When you're the parent of a young child it obviously makes
anything like this more personal," Rodney continued.
"Moscow is a five-hour flight from Uzbekistan and it makes it much
harder being treated so far from home. But the good news is that doctors are
fairly confident that when she finishes her treatment she'll make a full
recovery."
Another £25,000 is required for Samira
to get better. And Rodney is determined to raise it.
"I know there are many worthy causes out there - in Northern
Ireland and beyond," he told Claire.
"But for me it's very sad to see any child's life reduced to a
financial element, and that's why I wanted to see what we could do.
"This only comes down to money. She is already two-thirds of the
way through her treatment. Not every child who's ill can be saved but, with
financial support, Samira can be.
"That's what's so significant about it. It's simply down to paying
for expensive treatment."
He added: "My wife always says that people in Northern Ireland are very
public spirited and charitable when it comes to fundraising and that's why I
wanted to raise the profile of this."
If you want to do your little bit to help Samira, you can by logging onto crowdfunding.justgiving.com/SaveSamira.
I know Rodney and Firuza would be very grateful to you.
