DEARBORN — Jackie Ayoub, a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, has set up a GoFundMe page to accept donations that will go towards helping patients of the pediatric oncology unit at Saint George Hospital in Beirut.

The unit was badly damaged along with the hospital in the Aug. 4 explosion at the city’s port. Now those young patients with cancer who relied on the unit for chemotherapy medications and radiations are in life-threatening danger and badly need assistance.

Dr. Peter Noun, the chair of the pediatric hematology oncology unit at Saint George Hospital, recently spoke to CNN about his hospital’s dire needs. That interview can be viewed here:

“I was raised in Lebanon and I moved four years ago to Michigan to do my masters and PhD,” Ayoub told The Arab American News. “I have no words to describe the explosion in Beirut on Aug. 4. Seeing what happened to my country aches my heart. Our Lebanon is crying for help.”

Ayoub said she is in contact with Noun, who said the money will be used to meet the urgent need of treating the children in different hospitals.

Ayoub and fellow organizers are also working with the Basilica of Saint Mary in Livonia to raise the money. Please contact Ayoub at (248) 839-4911 or Ruwayda Hallal at (248) 514-0048 for more information. The organizers so far have raised close to $5,000 of their $20,000 goal.

Donations can be made here: https://gf.me/u/yqt7yu