Donations for late footballer's sick son surge to over $180,000
It was only after he heard that his close friend Nur Alam Shah had died that he discovered the 38-year-old former S.League footballer had a four-year-old son who was fighting for his life.
Mr R. Vengadasalam, who was manager of Woodlands Wellington when Alam Shah was a player with the club in the 2000s, told The New Paper yesterday: "He never told his friends about his problems. So I was quite surprised to learn that his son was sick.
"When I found out, I kept wondering why he would use his own hard-earned money to train young kids when he needed that money for his son's operation."
Alam Shah died of a heart attack last Friday, leaving his wife, Madam Azean Aziz, 38, and three children.
The two older children are aged eight and 14.
The youngest, Muhammad Royyan, suffers from hypoplastic left heart syndrome - a rare heart defect that affects normal blood flow through the organ.
Through fund-raising website Give.asia, Mr Alam Shah originally aimed to raise $120,000 for his son, who had undergone two operations and needed another.
On Monday, the sum raised stood at $58,000, but after news of the tragedy became public, the figure had surged to about $190,000 last night.
On the Give.asia page yesterday, Madam Azean, a housewife, said the family had hoped to raise $170,000 to help them over this period as well as for Royyan's medical bills.
Her late husband, a limousine driver, was the sole breadwinner in the family.
Besides the fund-raising campaign, Alam Shah had also set up a stall at the Geylang Serai bazaar named Royyan's Corner.
It sells football jerseys and is being manned by his sister, Madam Nur Jannatu Raudhah.
Said the 33-year-old: "The fund-raising campaign is mainly to raise money for Royyan's surgery, which is expensive.
"This is more for helping my brother's family over these tough times.
"I hope it will be successful, so my sister-in-law does not have to worry for a few months at least."
Alam Shah had started the non-profit Combine Schools Football Club last year, catering to about 90 children between the ages of 12 and 17.
Mr Vengadasalam said: "Alam Shah saw football as a vehicle to help kids. He wanted to keep them out of the streets.
"He was so passionate about football, and I think he wanted to repay society for donating towards his son's operations."
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