20.09.2025 12:00
National basketball player Alperen Şengün has put his jersey up for auction to raise funds for the treatment of 6-month-old Çağan Ata Taran, who is suffering from SMA Type 1. The family is urgently seeking support for the treatment.
The national basketball player Alperen Şengün's jersey, which he donated to support the campaign, is critical for the treatment of 6-month-old Çağan Ata Taran, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type-1. Ahmet Miraç Taran (36), the father, stated that doctors said if his son receives the medication before he turns 6 months old, he will live like a normal child, emphasizing that they only have 1 day left, "If Ata receives this medication without showing any symptoms within the 6-month period, he will continue his life without any effects of SMA," he said.
Aleyna (26) and Ahmet Miraç Taran, who live in the Nilüfer district of Bursa and got married last year, were informed that their son, Çağan Ata, born on March 21, was diagnosed with the most common and severe type of SMA, Type-1 (Werdnig-Hoffmann), when he was just 18 days old. The family, who started a fundraising campaign with the approval of the governorship, organized various fundraising activities such as bazaars and concert tickets. Alperen Şengün, the national basketball player, also donated his jersey, which bears the signatures of all the National Team players, for the treatment process of 6-month-old Çağan Ata Taran, who is fighting SMA Type-1.
AUCTIONED FOR 1 MILLION TL
The jersey was auctioned for 1 million lira with a call from the club president Sezer Sezgin, who said, "Dear Çağan Ata, your big brother Alperen, the apple of our National Team's eye, and the National Team signed this jersey. To contribute to your recovery process, we, as Bursaspor Basket, are putting this jersey up for sale. We invite philanthropists to support from here," along with a video shared on Şengün's own social media account and Bursaspor Basket's social media, where he said, "Dear Çağan Ata, I donated my jersey for you to regain your health. All our support is with you." The critical hours for Çağan Ata Taran's treatment, who will turn 6 months old tomorrow, have begun.
"OUR LAST DAYS"
Ahmet Miraç Taran stated that children with SMA Type-1 lose 90% of their motor nerve cells by their 6th month and that it is impossible to regenerate these neurons once lost. He emphasized that doctors said if his son receives the medication before he turns 6 months old, he will live like a normal child, noting that they only have 1 day left. Taran mentioned that this period will end on September 21, expressing that they learned about the disease through Çağan Ata's heel blood, "We learned about the disease when Ata was 18 days old. Since that day, the process has been very difficult. When the SMA screening test was done before marriage, it came back negative for me. Because my test was negative, my wife was not tested, and unfortunately, my son was born with SMA due to a mutation that occurs once in 3 million. These are our last days for Ata to survive. If Ata receives this medication without showing any symptoms within a 6-month period, he will continue his life normally without any effects of SMA," he said.
"THIS JERSEY IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE"
While 55 million lira of the 80 million lira needed for treatment has been raised so far, mother Aleyna Taran stated that the jersey auctioned by the national basketball player is of vital importance, saying, "There is a jersey currently up for auction. It is a jersey sold to support Çağan Ata. This jersey is really of vital importance. I appeal to businessmen and other prominent individuals. We kindly ask them to buy this jersey to support Çağan Ata. Thanks to Alperen brother, Çağan Ata will continue his life as a child," she said.