Samira can play with her toys now
Samira’s parents were delighted as they were expecting a baby in early 2019. They had bundles of hope and plans for the new addition to their family. Likewise, Samira’s grandfather was super excited and dreamt of her granddaughter becoming a doctor.
All those dreams and hopes were badly shattered upon the birth of the baby when the family discovered that Samira had nerve disorder in her upper limb. She was suffering from weakness and motion disorder in her right upper limb. Her parents took this 3-month baby to a local hospital in their native province – Baghlan. The hospital referred her to La Chaine De l’Espoir – LCDE (One of FMIC’s partners) in Kabul for the financial assistant to her treatment in Kabul.
The La Chaine office referred Samira to FMIC for treatment. Based on the diagnosis, Samira was found suffering from brachial plexus birth palsy in which paralysis or weakness of the upper limb was present. Samira was unable to elevate her right shoulder and flex her right elbow. Initially, she went through a process of physiotherapy but the result was not convincing and the doctors at FMIC opted for a surgical approach. In this operation, a nerve transfer was performed for the first time in Afghanistan by Doctor Royeen Dehzad, Orthopaedic Surgeon at FMIC.
After the operation, the casting was applied for 6 months. In the first follow-up of Samira, she was able to move her hand and arm.
The next stage of the treatment includes physiotherapy for almost three years. It is really heartening that Samira is improving fast. Her smiles bring a spark of hope and her family gets excited each time she holds her toys.
