Eight-year-old can­cer vic­tim Je­hue Thomas has ar­rived in In­dia and has start­ed the first day of can­cer treat­ment at Apol­lo Hos­pi­tal.

The life-sav­ing trip which costs over $1.4 mil­lion, had been planned since last year but ap­proval for par­tial fund­ing from the Chil­dren’s Life Fund was on­ly grant­ed this year.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia from In­dia, his moth­er Suzie Gon­za­les, who will do­nate her bone mar­row to save her son’s life said they were still $75,000 short of what is need­ed for their stay.

Gon­za­les ex­plained that while Je­hue un­der­went chemother­a­py ses­sions to get him phys­i­cal­ly ready for the trans­plant, his friends at the can­cer ward at the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex con­tin­ued to ral­ly around him, mak­ing cards and send­ing him videos to wish him suc­cess.

On Je­hue’s Face­book page, Gon­za­les ap­pealed for the pub­lic to con­tin­ue sup­port­ing them. She said the rest of the mon­ey need­ed for his treat­ment is be­ing raised by his fam­i­ly, friends and sup­port­ers.

“Our boy is fin­ished with day one of his vis­it to the Apol­lo Hos­pi­tal in In­dia! It was a long and tir­ing one. Lots of in­for­ma­tion. But we are strong and walk with faith, not by sight!” she wrote.

Pae­di­atric haema­tol­o­gist/on­col­o­gist Dr Kevon Din­di­al, who has been work­ing close­ly with chil­dren af­flict­ed by can­cer al­so cheered Je­hue on. In a video post­ed on Je­hue’s Face­book page, he said: “Hi Je­hue, Dr Din­di­al here with all your friends. We hope you have a safe trip. I know it will be okay, Have fun and we can’t wait un­til you come back.”

Dr Din­di­al told CNC3 News last month that chil­dren who un­der­go a bone mar­row trans­plant will re­quire af­ter-care. He said Je­hue will be in In­dia for more than four months.

Dr Adri­an Alexan­der, the chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer of Al­lied Fam­i­ly Care al­so said the chil­dren who un­der­go bone mar­row trans­plants will re­quire funds long af­ter the trans­plant is com­plet­ed.

“Fund­ing is need­ed long af­ter their treat­ment to when they achieve a full cure. Some­times their whole lives re­quire to have fol­low-up treat­ment,” he said.

Je­hue, a stu­dent of Ari­ma Boys RC School was di­ag­nosed with Acute Lym­phoblas­tic Leukemia at the age of three. This is his sec­ond re­lapse and the on­ly way he can sur­vive his ail­ment is through bone mar­row surgery. Any­one want­i­ng to as­sist Je­hue can make do­na­tions to First Cit­i­zens Bank, Sav­ings Ac­count: 2892613 or What­sapp Je­hue’s moth­er at 290-1045.