Asma Ali Zain/Deputy Chief Reporter
Sunday, May 24, 2015
An Emirati family remains optimistic about their 3-year-old boy who was born prematurely and has had three open-heart surgeries to correct deformities.
Dubai - A tiny boy looks up shyly, blinking through his huge spectacles as if to clear his sight, and then when he catches your eye, a huge grin that splits across his face catches you off guard.
Ahmed Ahrari is a three-year-old feisty boy. Though a little small (physically) for his age, there is no other sign to show what he has endured over the past three years.
He is a bit quiet for his age though, with an occasional squeak that sounds like ‘mama.’
But even that is the best sound for his mother who has been by Ahmed’s side holding his tiny hand even when doctors told her to let go.
Theirs is a story of grit, determination, hope and above all, a story of parents’ undying love for their child who had bleak chances of survival.
Looking forward eagerly to the birth of their first child three years ago, young Emirati Hessah Al Qassim and her husband got the shock of their life when during a routine pregnancy scan the couple was told that the baby would be born with congenital heart problems.
“It was like a big blow to us,” Hessah said. “And I took it really hard. Within a week, my pressure shot up due to the stress and I delivered prematurely.”
Jisha V George helps Ahmed Ahrari walk at Dr Majdi’s Physical and Mental Rehabilitation Centre at the Dubai Healthcare City. — KT photo by Juidin Bernarrd
When Ahmed was born at 28 weeks weighing only 900 grammes, doctors told his parents he wouldn’t survive.
As expected, tiny Ahmed was born in Dubai with several complications. “He was termed a blue baby.”
“Since we had panicked so much and didn’t know what to do, we rushed to London with Ahmed,” the now 29-year-old adds.
Each day doctors fought to make Ahmed live another day. By the time he was even a month and half old, the baby had had three open-heart surgeries to correct the deformities.
But surgeries, however, did not end the problems for Ahmed. The heart deformity had caused damage. Because he was born prematurely, Ahmed had a host of other complications too.
With the condition of a chronic heart failure, not enough oxygen was being pumped to Ahmed’s brain. “This caused further damage,” she explains.
Ahmed then developed other complications including reflux action due to which he threw up whatever he was fed. Besides, his liver was also affected. “But my son is a fighter and somehow survived through all this,” said the mother.
While after four months, Ahmed was well enough to go back home, it was still not the end to the woes of the young parents.
Doctors found that Ahmed was not achieving the normal milestones a child of his age should. “He was not able to sit up even at seven months of age as children of his age do. He was able to do this only when he turned a year and three months,” explains Hessa.
She says it was only after a lot of research that she was able to find Dr Majdi El-Halik, Paediatric, Child Health Specialist at the Physical and Mental Rehabilitation Centre in the Dubai Healthcare City.
Treatment
Dr Majdi has seen cases more severe than those of Ahmed since he opened this centre.
“When I saw him at my centre two years ago, Ahmed had weakness in his back and muscles as well as had joint problems,” he said.
His mother brings Ahmed to the centre three times a week for therapy. Three months after the long visits, Ahmed started showing signs of improvement and started by rolling over himself.
“Doctors told me he would never walk,” says Hessa. Today, Ahmed toddles and is still a bit unstable on his feet but has started walking. He can even kick a ball and is able to eat himself. But above all, he has learned to understand though he is still unable to talk.
Just recently, Ahmed joined a mainstream nursery and has already made a number of friends. “Give him a year and then see his progress…he will soon become independent,” says Dr Majdi.
“We did not use any medications on Ahmed…only rehabilitation to develop the motor skills using the spider system,” he explained.
In the spider system, a child is suspended on a cage like structure using elastic bandages. “This gives the patient more control and helps improve the motor and mental capabilities as well.
Jisha V George, the physiotherapist who has spent hours working with Ahmed, speaks of him fondly. “He is a fighter.”
“He used to cry a lot earlier, but he has now become familiar with me and if someone else attends to him, he becomes upset.”
Dr Majdi’s centre currently has 70 outpatients only — all children and adolescents suffering from a range of neurological problems, birth trauma cases, brain injuries, patients with cerebral palsy who cannot be treated at homes and even those with genetic and metabolic conditions.
His patients — besides those from the UAE — belong to different nationalities such as from Oman, Nigeria and Kuwait.
Dr Ramadan Ibrahim AlBlooshi, Managing Director, Dubai Healthcare City Authority — Regulatory, adds: “Dubai Healthcare City acknowledges the importance of rehabilitation in its capacity planning and regulation.”
“Rehabilitation medicine is important to improve physical, mental, vocational and social functions. The specialty helps restore the health and functional abilities in patients suffering from conditions such sports injury, spinal cord injury or after acute illness. The demand for rehabilitation services is on the rise due to a number of factors including an ageing population, the growing incidence of chronic diseases, and mental and physical disability.”
“Parents should never give up on their children…they should never lose hope,” adds Dr Majdi. -asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com
