AN EMAIL to help a vulnerable family whose young son was badly burnt in a house fire has ended up helping several Cypriot families in the wake of overwhelming public response, its original sender said yesterday.
The woman who helped set up the email, who wished to remain unnamed, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that the entire affair started when a friend told her about Iosif and his family.
A month and a half ago, two-year-old Iosif was seriously injured in a blaze that completely ruined the family’s home.
The toddler has since been at Makarios Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where he was initially declared clinically dead. The parents didn’t consent to having his machines switched off and the family say he is now starting to show signs of life.
Being by their child’s bedside day and night, Iosif’s father has lost his job, which makes it hard for him to provide the lactose-free milk and nappies that Iosif needs.
When a group of friends heard of the case, they decided to prepare an email and send it to 30 friends who they thought might help.
The email got forwarded and even reached Greece, with response so great they were able to extend their help to other families in need. “We had a huge response. Iosif has helped a lot of families. A lot of people came forward since reading the email,” one of the volunteers explained. “Some have adopted entire families; they asked us for bank account details so they can deposit an amount every month.
“This email has helped a lot of poor Cypriot families.
“The only problem is, we are having problems delivering the donations as we are all volunteers.”
She wanted to warn members of public who may be interested in donating goods not to contact the hospital directly, as when the email first started circulating, hundreds of people started calling the ICU and enquiring after Iosif, which caused a bad atmosphere for the family.
“The mum was crying all day yesterday as the sister had a go at her for all the hassle. You can’t really blame the hospital; this is Intensive Care and hospital staff was being distracted from their work.”
n People interested in donating money can contact the Cyprus Mail on 22-818585
