This happened a little while ago and I will not reveal the names, time and places in particular to protect the identity of people.
While travelling on a subway in Toronto I met a person who looks somber and I could not help but ask him what is wrong. To my shock his only daughter (12 years old) was a Thalassemia Major living in a country where facilities were inadequate to treat Thalassemia. He told me his daughter has excess bleeding and her hemoglobin is dropping fast, the doctors back home keep tansfusing her to keep up with the pace but could not find a reason why she had this excess bleeding.
To find a solution we decided to meet with a renowned Hematologist in Toronto specializing in Thalassemia (I knew of the doctor as my daughter is a patient as well), few weeks later appointment was set, he was instructed to obtain certain results from back home and meet again. Time ticking and he got the results from back home, the hematologist told him she knows what is wrong and it is the best interest of the child if she will be brought to Canada ASAP.
The father who is a Canadian Resident immediately filed a sponsorship of his daughter and wife alongwith a urgent letter from hematologist (to expedite the case). Surprisingly, the immigration department accepted the case on humantarian grounds and the residency was issued within six months.
Few months later I met the father in transfusion room and he showed me his smiling daughter and told me all is well now and everything is under control. He told me her daughter had a ferritin of over 9000 and nobody was taking serious interest back home. She was admitted in a hospital and was on port for two days to bring the ferritin down and now she is making good progress, goes to school and learning the new culture.