A man has pulled himself back from the brink of death by his sheer desire to survive and watch his children grow up.
The 32-year-old patient underwent five and a half weeks of trauma which included three major surgerical operations on his lower abdomen, and multiple organ failure.
Dr Jawahar Mathias, Consultant General Surgeon at Welcare Hospital, who operated on the patient, said, "He has come back from the brink of death. When he initially came to us, we were not sure whether he would survive.
"But now he's completely healed. His renal, respiratory and cardiac failure problems have been taken care of. He was discharged on November 3 and will lead a completely normal life."
A resident of Al Ain, the patient complained of stomach pain and fever about two months ago. His local doctor suspected acute appendicitis.
The first hospital he contacted failed to diagnose the problem. He was given some painkillers and sent home. But his condition worsened, the pain and fever increased and he was admitted to another hospital.
This time he was diagnosed accurately and operated upon immediately.
He improved briefly after the surgery, but within seven days his condition deteriorated again. He was rushed back to the operating room where pus was drained off.
Mathias said: "The second operation seemed to be yielding positive results, then in a few days, intestinal contents started coming out of the drain site and wound.
"He had developed what we call a Faecal Fistula. The doctors at that hospital worked hard to try to get him better. He was also developing other complications such as respiratory and renal failure, along with cardiac problems. It was like the reaction to a septic shock."
It was decided to move him to Dubai's Welcare Hospital.
Mathias said, "In all fairness to the doctors of the other hospital, the patient didn't give them a chance to complete their treatment. But at Welcare, a number of departments got involved immediately.
"We initially wanted to stop the flow of intestinal matter through the drain site, so we started providing nutrition intravenously.
"Also we alleviated his cardiac problems, got his respiratory and renal failure under control. But the flow of intestinal content wasn't stopping, so I took him back for surgery.
"We performed a Right Hemicolectomy, wherein we removed the right side of his large intestine, removed the fistula tract, drained out the abscess present below the right kidney and rejoined the small to the large intestine.
"After that he responded very well. Within 12 days his wounds healed. He has no fever, which is a sign of infection being under control.
"Such severe complications after a simple appendicitis operation are extremely rare and I'm witnessing it for the first time in my 12 years in surgery.
"I'm happy that he is doing very well. The condition was such that it could develop into multi-organ failure, which can lead to death.
"He has come back from the jaws of death. He'll be returning to a perfectly normal lifestyle, like any other person."
The patient previously never complained of any serious illness or been hospitalised. A perfectly healthy man went through nearly two months of acute trauma and pain.
The patient said, "It has been a very long journey. I believe that a simple appendicitis which wasn't diagnosed initially lead to all these problems.
"It has been a very painful experience, and at a time when medicines didn't seem to work, it was the support of my family that helped me get through, especially my children. The desire to see them grow made me fight.
"When they told me about the infection spreading into my blood, I thought it was a hopeless situation. All kinds of thoughts were going through my head, but my family and children made me want to go on.
"But I responded well to the Welcare treatment. All my relatives were surprised at how fast I was getting well. Within a few days I was even allowed to eat...I ate biryani.
"This experience has made me realise that life is fragile, anything can happen at anytime. It has made me more sensitive of other people's needs. I will go all out to help anybody else in a similar situation.
"It has changed my entire attitude. Life is a gift to be cherished and respected."
His wife said: "We had lost all hope. I have never been more scared in my life. For over five weeks we were very tense. It was so bad that we called his parents from India to come and visit him. We didn't think he would survive."
His aged parents flew to Dubai to see their son.
The patient's mother said, "When I first saw my child in the Intensive Care Unit, I really got scared. Then I saw him lying there in his hospital bed with all the tubes attached to him, it was horrible.
"I have no words to describe what I felt at that moment. We had no idea he was so serious.
"They then told me about the surgeries and the complications. We were convinced that our son would never come back to us.
"It is the festival season, and we had hoped to be able to celebrate it all together at home in India. And here we were all battling and praying for his life. But he has come back to us."
The father said: "The doctors and medical care at Welcare have been a blessing that gave us back us our child."