Exactly two months after the Sunday Times launched a campaign to help the ‘Bubble Baby of Sri Lanka’, wrapped in flannel clothing of blue and white and hugged close by his happy parents, Sanjana Praveen Shivanka boarded UL Flight 123 headed for Chennai last evening at 6.30.
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| Baby Shivanka and his parents at the airport just before their departure to India yesterday.
Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara |
Giving a beautiful toothless smile at times, yawning in boredom at others, but eyes wide open and curious what this baby who is not even two months old was oblivious to was that along with him and his parents, the hopes, wishes and prayers of many who stood as one to support him also took wing to sustain him in his hour of need in the coming weeks.
As the Sunday Times Fund topped the Rs. 5 million mark, Shivanka’s parents, K.B.N. Damayanthi and K.W. Neil Anura Shantha, fearful but at the same time hopeful, thanked all those who not only donated money but also took the trouble to call them or the newspaper to find out how “our baby” is doing.
SriLankan Airlines and its staff promptly responded with free tickets for this humble family and went beyond the call of duty to make urgent arrangements to fly them out yesterday.
The airport staff went out of their way to make their departure as smooth as possible.
While wishing baby Shivanka a speedy recovery, the Sunday Times says a very big THANK YOU once again to our readers who made what seemed an impossible mission doable.
We couldn’t have achieved this without you.
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