At 10, Saiyette Aima could not understand the medical language around breast cancer. Her grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 3 disease after noticing a small, pimple-like mark on her neck, she began chemotherapy and radiation and the family quickly entered a period of treatment and uncertainty.
“I watched her go through chemotherapy and radiation and saw how cancer affected not just her health, but our entire family,” Saiyette told Khaleej Times. But its consequences were clear to her from the get-go. the experience stayed with her While she was thousands of miles away from her grandmother in Delhi. Now, cancer was no longer a disease she read about on paper, it was a part of her life.
000 by approaching her school, family, friends and community, the final amount exceeded Dh10,400 and earned her recognition as YallaGive’s Fundraising Hero of the Month While she initially aimed to collect Dh5. Aima launched For Her, For Hope, a fundraising campaign through YallaGive.
“Hair loss is such a visible part of treatment for many patients, and it felt like a simple, practical thing I could do,” said the now 17-year-old. “It was a small gesture, but it taught me that I don’t have to wait until I have a large platform or extensive resources to begin helping,” she added. “Cancer can affect almost every part of a person’s life,” she said. “CareCheck does not diagnose cancer and it does not replace a doctor,” she said. She said that the platform is currently being finalised before becoming publicly available. “The emotional ties that I’ve had through cancer have made me realise that I can use CS within the healthcare industry without being a doctor or a nurse,” she said.
A few years later, the Dubai College student cut her locks and donated them through Locks of Hope, a Friends of Cancer Patients programme that provides wigs for people undergoing chemotherapy. This marked just the beginning of her initiative for bettering the lives of cancer patients. The money supported Pink Caravan, the Friends of Cancer Patients initiative that promotes awareness and offers free screenings. A perceptive and dedicated teenager, Aima soon realised that a single campaign could only help so much. She then created Pink for Purpose, a cancer-awareness initiative. Many people had questions they felt uncomfortable asking and complex medical terminology only made the information difficult to absorb. Thus, she expanded Pink for Purpose into a YouTube channel featuring oncologists and other specialists discussing warning signs, screening, treatment, inherited risks, recovery and the emotional effects of cancer. The conversations also improved her own understanding of the truly life-changing disease. Treatment varies widely among patients; its effects may continue through physical symptoms, and people may also face reduced confidence, fear of recurrence and uncertainty within families. Its purpose is more precise: helping a woman understand a concern, document it and reach appropriate care. After finishing school, she hoped to study computer science or computer engineering in US or UK, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence.