Anytime Nawroz is scheduled to play in Sulaimani, Barin asks his parents to take him to see the match. He goes to the stadium with his father and several oxygen tanks.
“Every time Nawroz has a game, he asks us to take him to the stadium. To make it to the stadium, we must load a large oxygen tank into the car, and in addition, we need to have three to four extra tanks on hand to last through the entire game,” Yassin Luqman, Barin’s father, told Rudaw.
“If we bring fewer than this, we won’t be able to watch the whole game, meaning we would have to leave halfway through to make sure the child doesn’t run out of breath,” he added.
Barin has been diagnosed with respiratory muscle weakness, which makes it difficult for him to breathe. According to Luqman, doctors told them that Barin’s illness cannot be cured in the Kurdistan Region, and he needs to be taken abroad, either to Germany or India, at a cost of over $100,000.
Upon arriving at the stadium, the fans of Nawroz welcome Barin with cheers and they chant his name. Fans have also started to raise funds to help pay for his treatment.
“The campaign received a strong response across the Kurdistan Region, with support coming from all provinces, including Zakho, Duhok, and the capital, Erbil. We express our gratitude from here - it was truly a compassionate and noble stance for people to join a campaign for little Barin, to help him return to normal life,” said Karzan Luqman, a member of the Nawroz fanclub.
“We are with you Barin,” is the name of the campaign.
Nearly 33 million Iraqi dinars (about $25,000) has been raised across the Kurdistan Region.
Peshawa Bakhtiyar contributed to this report
