Why watching ITV News made me raise thousands for a young Syrian boy who nearly died
Rohan Karat was watching ITV News when he saw the story of Yusef Rajab, a two-year-old Syrian boy left close to death by a devastating airstrike in his home town of Douma.
The 37-year-old father, who lives in south-west London, was so moved by the young boy's tale that he launched a campaign to help him.
Partly thanks to his help, Yusef is now starting a new life with his father.
Here, Mr Karat writes for ITV News on what so motivated him to play his part.
Warning: readers find the images in this article distressing
What do you do when you see a two-year-old boy on TV terribly burned, in immense pain and traumatised as a consequence of a war he knows nothing of?
The answer should be: "You just do whatever is needed to help the little angel."
This is exactly what happened to our little friend, Yusef.
Badly burnt, crying, constantly in pain and filled with immense fear is how all of us first saw him on ITV News just over three months ago.
Read more: Young Syrian boy's remarkable recovery from horror blast
When I saw Yusef’s story it was like a dagger to my heart.
Doing something for this little guy was the only way to ease the pain from this dagger.
Since then it has been a relentless journey, looking at various avenues to help him and his family seek a safer and better life out of Syria.
Watch Geraint Vincent's original report
First we started a petition to help Yusef and his family leave the country and bring them to the UK. The petition now has over 1,000 signatures.
This then led to the idea of starting a GoFundMe page to help finance Yusef’s recovery and to get him and his family out of Syria.
Through the GoFundMe page we have now raised over £5,000 towards Yusef’s cause.
Our supporters were constantly kept updated through a Facebook page specially created for Yusef’s cause.
We are so happy that the first phase of our campaign has been successful and Yusef and his family are now living in the safety of Turkey.
Yusef has almost completely recovered from his terrible injuries.
It’s fascinating how a heart driven with love makes your head take crazy measures to make things happen.
Yusef’s campaign has been led by many hearts filled with love and compassion for our little friend.
Kindness shown by so many has literally helped change not only Yusef and his family’s life but also lives of generations to come for this family.
We would love to carry on supporting Yusef and his family sustain a happy life in Turkey.
Therefore we need all the support we can get to make this happen.
Please like our Facebook page to be a part of a loving and kind community and give whatever you can. We are blessed to be a blessing.