Moved To Save Lives

Tania Jayatilaka learns the shattering events that shaped Union for International Cancer Control president HRH Princess Dina Mireds global fight against cancer

Tall, confident and immaculately put together, Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired of Jordan shares a vastly different picture of herself 21 years ago,when she made the heart-breaking discovery that her two-year-old son was suffering from acute lymphatic leukaemia.

During a visit to England, Princess Dina couldn’t shake the feeling of unease when her son kept experiencing fever, vomiting and bruising on his legs. Several visits to the emergency room proved to be of little use, and when she called her family doctor back home in Jordan, he advised her to get a blood test for her son.

“During those days in England, you couldn’t just ask for a blood test, you had to have been referred. I went without an appointment to the National Health Service clinic and said I’d pay for a blood test, which was also unheard of then,” Princess Dina says.

“The doctors kept telling me I needed an appointment which I didn’t have. My tears just started rolling down—I knew something was wrong with my son, but I didn’t know what exactly was happening.

“An 18-year-old student who had overheard me, then offered me his appointment.”