Poet Roj Yiğit donated all the income of her poetry book titled “Exile Words in My Pen” for the treatment of 3-year-old SMA Patient Havin Ömür Aydar.
Havin Ömür Aydar, 3 years old, has SMA Type-1.
Spinal Muscular Atrophy, known as SMA, is a rare muscle disease. There are nearly three thousand SMA patients in Turkey.
Type-1 of SMA, which has four types, is seen in infants aged 6 months and younger, while Type-2 is 6 to 18 months old, and symptoms of Type-3 patients begin after 18 months. Type-4 symptoms appear in adulthood.
Aydar, who should not exceed 13 and a half kilos for the treatment of the disease, has reached 12 kilos.
Aydar, who was diagnosed with SMA Type-1 when she was 5 months old, cannot obtain the Zolgensma drug required for her recovery in Turkey, and the amount of money required for her treatment is 2.2 million Euros. While the campaigns for the baby Havin continue, 5 million TL has been collected so far.
Poet Roj Yiğit also participated in the campaigns launched to save Little Havin's life. Yiğit donated all the income of her poetry book named "Exiled words in my pen" for Aydar's treatment.
By answering our questions, Yiğit said, “We went on a journey for our baby with SMA. We knocked on the doors one by one in order to find hope, sometimes we got worn out on the hard and tough roads, sometimes we cried and sometimes we left our happiness on the threshold of the doors," she said.
Although she describes her support for the Havin baby's campaign as 'a small drop in the big sea', she draws attention to the importance of the smallest aid given to this cause.
Yiğit, “Havin, a patient with SMA, sought support from me as a sparrow looking for hope, eyes full of joy of life and a tired poem on my page. I set out from here with the motto that maybe it is not a huge contribution, but at least a sip of hope. This is a great happiness for us, a great effort for Havin, a great hope that the book, which was written in as little as three months, will be sold out quickly.”
Yiğit called for awareness for the campaign to grow and the baby's life to be saved, and addressed the youth:
“My request to young people is that more books should be read, because the hearts translated into the language of the texts should not be left alone, and finally, let's consider all our children with SMA like Havin and like our children, let's not push them into loneliness, of course, there is definitely something that everyone can do.”
Who is Roj Yiğit?
She was born in Van, lives in Istanbul. Roj Yiğit, who also worked as a theater instructor and art director for a while, stepped into the world of literature with her book called "Cemre and Bahar". After her second book of poetry, "Poetry Wounded My Voice", she wrote the book "Exiled Words in My Pen" for Tahir Elçi.
Yiğit, who also works as a designer or editor, contributes to many magazines, newspapers and the internet with her articles