Hi there, to cut a long story short a friend of mine who literally saved my life while i was out in jordan has become very ill and needs specialist medical attention. Sadly the only way he will get the diagnosis and care he needs is if we (his friends) can raise money to get him to Canada where another friend has agreed to take him in and get him the care he needs.

This means a lot to me, and to the other people i went out to jordan with.

Sadly being a broke student, the only way i can manage to raise a decent sum of money is by buying something, adding value to it by repairing/refitting etc and then selling it on.

I appreciate this will not mean as much to you folks as it does to me but i would be pretty damm appreciative if any of you could offer me a build project/bike in need of tlc/basically anything i can buy and somehow sell so that i can make money.

I realise this is a pretty random thing to be posting up and i apologise if any of you think this is inappropiate. I am not lying about this story and can prove it if anyone doubts my truthfullness.

Many thanks for listening, please post up anything you can or mail me at jhw7@aber.ac.uk

I can scrape together about £200 at a push so nothing asking for more than that please.
Jon

Why can he not get the care here? What is the condition and the proposed cure?

He is a Jordanian citizen, basically the only person in a position to take him in is our friend in Canada…legalities.
He was diagnosed with severe diabetes a while back but his condition continues to deteriorate in a manner which suggests a more in depth diagnosis is needed, one which he cannot get in Jordan.

sniff sniff….I smell something 🙄

**** off transporter13, Im a good friend of Jons (walla24) Im at university with him and ride with him. He is one of the least likely people to rip anyone off. There are some nice people out there y'know.

Surely appeals to charity and perhaps the Jordanian embassy would be a good idea. Isn't Jordan* pretty affluent?

* The Country not the bint.

I'm sure there are some nice people out there but raising money for an important medical issue by taking on peoples project bikes and selling them on (which takes time) makes no sense.

If this is a true story – it needs a rethink.

If it's bo!!ocks – it needs a rethink.

How much is the flight to Canada?

If you can raise £200 then you should appproach the bank, explain your situation and ask to borrow the extra money – don't think a one way flight to Canada is more than £800?

I think this idea of "making money" has been pointed out as useless in the past. No one wants to buy a bitsa bike made up by someone else – the components are worth more in their own right.

A google search on "cheap flights london canada" comes up with prices starting below £500.

Thanks PJ266, transporter 13 this is all the truth but beleive what you will.

ex-pat- sadly our friend is a palestinian bedoiun and so the chances of the embassy taking and interest are less than slim.

DrSwank- why does it make no sense? any way of making money would help. We have other things planned such as an open mic night but I dont really have any special skills or contacts to help out (although i will obv) so I thought maybe i could use my skills to come up with a prize for a competition or something.

hitman- yes that is an option however as we are all students adding to our debts is not the best plan. We will if necessary though.

druidh- although other costs will be involved, we indeed aim to raise £500 to cover flights jordan–> canada.

Fair enough, thanks for all your comments, not quite as positive as i hoped but it was worth a try…just hoped there was someone out there who perhaps has done well for themselves and wanted to spread the love so to speak.

Cheers
Jon

I'm sorry but I smell something too. If there are a group of you that are truly interested in saving your mate why not just each bung in £50 and pay for it yourselves.

Students are not as skint as they used to be. Being one I know this.

Sorry to hear of your friends misfortune, don't have any bike bits to offer I'm afraid – how about trying to organise a fund raising bike-ride and use what little cash you have to lay on a post ride breakfast/cake fest, I guess there's folk here who may be able to help ??

just hoped there was someone out there who perhaps has done well for themselves and wanted to spread the love so to speak

In my experience (unfortunately) those to whom £200 is little more than a decent lunch are the least likely to help anyone else – you don't get rich by being generous 👿

Goan- i appreciate there is probably someone out there who is a **** enough to try to steal peoples money in this way, however if you smell bs then i suggest you check your shoes because there is none in this thread!

We will all put in our own money but it would be much better if we could raise money too as im sure the flights will not be the only cost incurred, especially if he is not accepted into the national health service (or what ever it is called).

Hilldodger- superb idea, i will get on that immeadiately…

why canada?

walla, it would be good to get some more in depth back story. Glossing over the details just makes it sound a bit dodgy.

Ok, i have included the email i received from Russel Adams (you may have read one of his papers)

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am writing to you as a friend or colleague (past and present) of
Aladdin Madi, to ask for your assistance in helping us to ensure
Aladdin's long-term health. Many of you may not be aware that our friend
Aladdin has had a very hard year in 2009, having been diagnosed with
diabetes while working in the Emirates earlier in the year, and very
nearly losing his life before returning to Jordan and being diagnosed
and treated for the disease. In this period Ala lost about 25 kgs, and
since last March has begun the slow process of regaining his health.
Recently it has become clear that Ala is not responding to medical
treatment in a way that that suggests he has been correctly diagnosed,
and since more sophisticated medical care is not available to Ala in
Jordan, a number of his friends have decided to bring him to Canada to
be correctly treated, with the hope that we can see his condition
stabilized and that Ala can be assessed for the long-term treatment of
the disease.

Our friend Jim Anderson <********@telus.net> has kindly invited Ala to
visit him in British Columbia Canada, and to live in his home while
being assessed. Ala has visited Jim in the past, and we believe that
this trip is essential to Ala's long-term health and well being. As Ala
has not been able to work very much since he has been diagnosed with
diabetes–largely because of a loss of strength due to the weight loss
and erratic blood sugar levels–he has virtually no finances to help
himself (despite his constant attempts to find work in Jordan).

We are currently raising funds for Ala's travel to Canada and for his
medical assessment and treatment. We are asking you as a friend or
colleague of Ala to consider making a donation to this effort. Any
donation, no matter how small, will be of great assistance to helping us
to help Ala. _If you know of any other friends or colleagues of __Ala__
who are not on this list, please feel free to forward this appeal to them.

FWIW, I recently dealt with walla24 through the classifieds and he was certainly genuine and sent me exactly what he described, when he said he would.

I do agree though that this might not be the best way to do it.

You're a student – how about something stupid, sponsored – IIRC that always got a good bit of cash in for us? Maybe something bike related – it's not exam time yet so you should have time on your hands for it.

Clubber- thank you

I do have a sponsored event in the pipeline, "aber to cadiar and back again" although its just a plan at the minute

While I don't want to be negative, im just too much of a sceptic to believe this sort of thing, and even if it were true the £500 could be raised in a heartbeat from a quick organised collection during lunches at a uni, or by asking parents to chip in a few quid. Christ, we raised a few hundred to buy sports stuff just by hanging about in the social areas with a bucket for a week.

I'd suggest person-to-person cash raising will be significantly more likely to result in a good ending than asking online considering the number of emails I've had with pretty much the same text in them! While it must be unpleasant to realise this, you can only blame those willing to scam.

Incidentally, should you not check whether the canadians will treat him first, seeing as you're going to spend cash that could otherwise be better used to find a solution?

So you want us to support some bloke from Jordan who you met in the Emirates and has now been diagnosed with diabetes. For some reason his hopes rest on him getting help in Canada.

You lost me at Jordan. Things are crappy enough in this country for us to start worrying about some bloke in Jordan

walla24 – students are fund raising machines, you'll surely have the most luck at uni. Is there any chance your RAG commitee can help out?

who will be paying his medical costs in Canada?

sorry i dont give away money-good luck

While your intentions may be genuine, it looks like you're trying for the easy option. The profit margin on a project bike enterprise is too low to make it worthwhile in the first place, you'd make more money just by getting a job instead.

An online forum is not the first place you go to for money, especially because you're expecting our help based on the strength of an email.

If you're intending to raise money, do it on a big scale at uni. Run a student night with some novelty rubbish attached to it. Collection outside canteen at lunchtime. Sponsored whatever. Black tie waitering of pints in the student union. It really isn't hard to brainstorm a few ideas, copying whatever has worked in the past for other organisations.

You mention that your sponsorship idea is a plan at the moment – get off your arse and organise it so it moves from being a plan (which never happen as they keep getting put off) to an actual event.

Based on your email, it looks like you're not the only one expected to contribute to this. You mention that the guy sending you the email has written papers – is he not a well paid academic?