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Benefit gig for ama Sumani, Cardiff
Last night’s gig was originally intended as a benefit, organised by No Borders, to raise money for the treatment of Ama Sumani, the ghanaian woman who was deported from her hospital bed, by the Home Office in January after her visa expired, whilst undergoing treatment for myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. The Home Office was aware that by deporting Ama they would be depriving her of the life extending treatment she needed and effectively killing her. Sadly last wednesday, just over two months after returning to Ghana, that’s what happened. Ama died leaving behind two children.
I remember watching the news in disbelief back in January as Ama was taken from the hospital in a wheelchair by five immigration officers who then drove her to Heathrow and put her on a plane to Ghana. I felt so angry and hopeless, and so ashamed of my country.
The thing is, just over two years ago, my mum was diagnosed with the same cancer that Ama had. Myeloma is an incurable but treatable cancer of the bone marrow and with the right treatment patients can go into remission, partial remission or at least keep the disease under control for some time, while enjoying a good quality of life. I stayed in hospital with my mum during some of her treatment, and I saw her sick, weak, frightened and in terrible pain. The thought of her being wheeled off by immigration officers and put on a plane in that condition is unimaginable.
As soon as my mum was diagnosed, she was taken into hospital for chemo and radio therapy. She was also told that a bone marrow transplant, using her own stem cells, would give her the best chance of survival.
Ama didn’t have this option. As she wasn’t a British citizen, she wasn’t able to be offered a bone marrow transplant. She was, however, given regular kidney dialysis and the drug thalidomide, which is very effective in the treatment of myeloma. In Ghana, the treatment is not free and dialysis is expensive. Ama wouldn’t have been able to afford it, which is why people were trying to raise money for her. But on top of this, Thalidomide isn’t available in Ghana and it was this drug that was crucial in extending Ama’s life.
My mum had her bone marrow transplant a year and a half ago and she has gone from being unable to walk at all and in a wheelchair (myeloma weakens the bones and causes them to fracture and crumble) to once again living life to the full and walking just as she used to.
The younger the patient, the more likely they are to respond well to treatment. My mum is 64. Ama was 39.
What’s unbelievably sad is that the home office’s response to Ama’s deportation was that ’this case is not exceptional’.
The money raised for Ama’s treatment will now go to her children who are being looked after by family and friends in Ghana.
Last night at Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, it was good to see so many people supporting the benefit. It was good to see familiar faces from Gagged, Gwent Anarchist group and the people from Eat Out Vegan Wales. The two bands that played before me were punk bands which I enjoyed listening to. We sounded very different but we were saying the same things.
I started my set as I start most of my sets, with the song ’I Won’t Wear The Union Jack’. I often wonder if I should give that song a miss as I play it at every gig, but last night it seemed more apt than ever. The first line goes ’I’d like to say I’m proud to be British but I’m not!’ and until that changes I’m gonna keep singing the song.
4:46 PM
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