Abu Dhabi: One of the most fervent dreams of 10-year-old Yousuf Mohammad Aburub is of being able to kick a football and enjoy a game of soccer with his friends. When he was just one-and-a-half-years-old and had just learnt to move, he crawled right into an open communal tandoor (clay oven) in the village of Jalboun in the West Bank, Gaza.
Now his dream might soon be fulfilled thanks to the charitable efforts of the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) and the Emirates Hospital, Dubai that have been working on Yousuf’s feet and hands since 2006.
“It was the most horrifying nightmare for us,“ recalls Yousuf’s mother, Nawal Mohammad Aburub, who has 13 children. She has accompanied her 13th child for all the reconstructive surgeries that Dr Essam Mardini, specialist orthopaedic surgeon at Emirates Hospital, has performed on Yousuf since 2006. “Yousuf was in a coma for two days in a hospital in Jenin. The doctors insisted on amputing most of the toes on his right foot even when the wound was raw. The bone of his right foot was badly damaged and he sustained third degree burns to the left foot, his arms and hands as well. For years Yousuf would crawl around the house on his elbows and walk on his knees as though his lower limbs did not exist. As soon as he was able to talk, he began telling me of the pain he had. He could never go out and play with other kids and, being intelligent and creative, he would invent new recipes in the kitchen and help me with housework. He loves cakes so much that he has learnt to bake them. I never thought Yousuf would be able to walk properly. I am so thankful to PCRF and the Emirates Hospital that have given me hope that my son will be able to walk properly and be free of pain one day.”
Every time Yousuf comes to Dubai with his mother, he is hosted by the PCRF in an apartment and the hospital takes care of all his medical needs.
Yousuf, who has been braving pain all his life, has developed a defence mechanism to pain and declares: “I do not feel any pain any more on my feet. When the doctor operates, I have some fever but do not feel any pain. I am in the fourth grade and have been walking to the Jalboun Boys’ School l every day which is not very far from my home. However, since most of my toes are missing on my right foot and my left foot has bent toes with a lot of scars, I have to walk on my heels and that gives me back pain. I am looking forward to returning to my village as I miss my sister, 13-year-old Sahir, who I play with usually,” says Yousuf with a very infectious smile.
The young boy who is in Dubai for his fourth reconstructive surgery loves many things in the city, but most memorable for him was the Ferrari test drive “I have so much to share with my siblings back home,” says the young boy who hopes to study to be an architect and construct some impressive structures one day.