LAHORE - Danial Tanveer’s hope had initially come from Foris Hospital India where the doctors had hinted at the possibility of a successful heart transplant, however the cost of treatment which was $50,000 was too much for his family to afford. Consequently, the family requested for help from anyone willing to give them a hand in their hour of trial, but it was a race against time.
Finally, the family’s request for help, where it was ignored by insensitive people finally attracted the attention of PTI leader Imran Khan who did not waste any time in rushing to the hospital where he was admitted. This further raised hopes of availability of funds for the treatment which was to begin in India. 
Danial’s case is a damning indictment on the state of heart treatment facilities available in Pakistan. As a matter of fact, there is no treatment available for heart transplant which is a complex surgery and involves a complicated procedure where risk of a failure is also pretty high. He could have been cured, if there had been a hospital meant for the purpose. Doctors, however, say that even if the heart transplant is successfully carried out, the transplanted heart’s life is not more than 10 to 15 years, after which new surgery is required. At times, the patients can undergo just one heart transplant and do live longer than the life of the implanted heart. At the end of the day, the absence of any transplant facility in Pakistan puts a question mark on the state of health facilities available to the general public. 
Danial had been a chronic heart patient from an early age and though doctors noted improvement by the time he was four-years-old, complications returned soon afterwards. For the past few years, his condition had started to deteriorate, which led the family to make SOS calls only to fall on deaf ears. His condition improved on August 2 but unfortunately that was when things took a turn for the worse. Later on, as the media amplified his call for rescue, politicians including provincial health minister Khawaja Salman Rafiq descended on the scene to help the family collect funds. It was then that Danial evinced a wish to meet Imran Khan. Also with the family on the threshold of collecting the required sum, the grant of Indian Visa made them more hopeful.
His father Tanveer Sadiq recalls a son full of life and energy and despite an ailing heart, he says, he had strong nerves.  He had been a brilliant student at school who despite the ailment always looked on the bright side of life.
Danial himself once said that his dream was to become a doctor but it was also to meet his hero Imran Khan. His dream of meeting Khan materialized but the other did not. On Monday, shortly after Imran Khan paid him the visit which brought fresh hopes of a recovery and funding being available, Danial’s heart struggling in its sixteenth year gave out.