Mother of terminally ill girl, five, fights to take her to Italy for treatment

The mother of terminally ill five-year-old desperate to take her child to Italy for treatment has slammed the NHS for blocking her attempt.

Shelina Begum told Good Morning Britain today that doctors won’t let her take daughter Tafida Raqeeb, who is in a coma, abroad for what she believes could be life-changing treatment.

When Tafida was four, she awoke one day to tell her mother that her head was hurting and within five minutes had stopped breathing.  

She underwent emergency surgery, with doctors warning she might not survive the procedure.

Ms Begum told the programme that doctors said if Tafida survived for a week then she’d be on the road to recovery.

But now they are stopping her from taking the girl to Italy because they say she has no chance of recovery, despite her mother saying that she responds to stimulus.

Tafid Raqeeb (pictured, left, before her illness and, right, at Royal London Hospital in east London earlier this month) suffered a ruptured blood vessel in her brain 

‘Tafida is not dying she is not braindead she is gradually improving every day she is getting stronger,’ she said. ‘When her only sibling comes to the hospital she opens her eyes.’

She says that it has been a ‘battle’ ever since she survived the original surgery, but that her daughter is capable of turning her head from side to side and recognising her voice. 

Doctors at the Royal London Hospital in East London have told her parents there is no hope she will recover, and it would be kinder to let her die, her solicitor mother says.

‘I have received various internal information that it all boils down to resources,’ she said. 

Shelina Begum (pictured) told Good Morning Britain that she desperately wants to take her daughter to Italy for treatment 

‘They are not prepared to give Tafida another six months even though a top independent neurologist has confirmed that Tafida needs time.’

The 39-year-old says that her daughter was promised a tracheotomy on the day she suffered a rupture when they were at King’s College Hospital in south London.

But there were no beds available, so she and husband Mohammed Raqeeb, 45, had to head to Great Ormond Street.  

They have since transferred to Barts Health NHS Trust in Newham, East London, and have not received the tracheotomy. 

‘She has lost her swallowing reflex she needs that for the time being just to manage her swallowing,’ she said. 

‘They (the Italians) are very confident that it will success because they have dealt with many other similar cases with brain injuries.

‘They said we need to try it and wait for another six months to see what she will regain what she won’t regain.’