When cash set aside for an urgent operation on 12-year-old Mostafa Hussain was stolen from a Tolland home on Monday, his family felt helpless. 

But in their darkest hour, generosity has shone through. 

Ronald McDonald House Batemans Bay has offered to fast track the family into its free accommodation at Fiona Lodge for a beach holiday, after the chairman read of the devastating incident in The Daily Advertiser.

Mostafa’s mother, Aesha Assi, said the generous offer helped put faith back in humanity.

“It’s very hard, very sad, so this is nice,” Ms Assi said. 

The family came to Wagga in 2012 in search of a better life, from Iraq and then a Jordan refugee camp. 

Since, they have been relentlessly hit by crime. 

But it all came to a damning head on Monday, when thieves broke into their O’Connor Street home in Tolland between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

They stole a laptop, containing the daughter’s year 12 HSC notes and a car before punching a hole in the television, ransacking the entire house and strewing paint throughout the rooms.

Most horrific of all, the alleged juvenile offenders stole $10,000 in cash set aside for expenses associated with Mostafa’s next back surgery. 

Severely-disabled Mostafa was born with only half his brain developed. He has epilepsy, his bowel sits outside of his body and his spine is 60 per cent out of place. 

Aesha, a single mother, is unable to work as she is full-time carer for Mostafa.

The family rely on friends for help with expenses, while eldest daughter, Russul Najem, sends back what she can from her job in Sydney while studying at university.

“It’s sad, just shocking,” Ms Assi said.

“Why do people do this? Why do we hate?

“We can’t sleep at night. Every day, we are scared.

“But it’s not just us. There is bad happening to others too.”

The family spent one year in the same house when they first came to Wagga, but uprooted to Sydney because the constant travel to medical appointments became too much. 

Ms Assi moved back to Wagga with her children several months ago after she became divorced. 

“The police can’t do anything,” Ms Assi said.

“All my life I’ve had problems. It’s been a hard life, nothing is easy.”

In the toughest of days, the family look forward to taking a sigh of relief when they choose to spend time at Fiona Lodge in Batemans Bay –  a dedicated holiday place where children who are fighting life-threatening illness can stay with their families to enjoy time together.