Rare surgery gives Iraqi teenager new lease of life

New Delhi: Ahmad Hashim Fadil looks every inch the teenager that he is. He enjoys every moment of attention the quote-hungry news channel crews bestow upon him.

The fact that he speaks and understands only Arabic is no deterrent. He is quite happy parroting the one English sentence he knows: "I am good."

The 15-year-old Iraqi teenager has undergone a rare and complex brain bypass surgery, the first-ever performed in India.

Ahmad came to India without his family. His father has passed away and his mother is too poor to travel to India. His three older sisters got an Australian charitable organisation to sponsor his travel and treatment in India.

The maternal uncle accompanying Ahmad cannot understand a word of English or Hindi. It is left to Dr Walid M. Al Bakili, in-charge for Gulf and Arab region at Delhi's Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals to work as his interpreter.

Ahmad came to India in mid-November in a very critical condition. He carried a very large aneurysm in one of the four main arteries of the brain.

He had already suffered a stroke. The aneurysm was a ticking time bomb, which could have burst any time causing fatal brain haemorrhage.

Dr Pranab Kumar, Senior Consultant, Neurosurgery at the hospital, says, "The diseased artery had to be blocked immediately. However, preliminary tests revealed that the brain could not tolerate closure of the abnormal artery."

The doctors decided to try something done in selected western countries.

The surgery was carried out in two stages. In stage one, a delicate bypass surgery was carried out as a small artery from his face was connected to one of the fine arteries in the brain. This augmented the brain's blood supply.

A week later, the doctors successfully blocked the brain's abnormal artery.

"The treatment has defused the time-bomb that Ahmad was carrying in his brain. Subsequent tests have confirmed normal blood supply to the brain, despite one of the four natural arteries having been blocked," says Dr harsh Rastogi, Senior Neuro-interventionist at the hospital.

"I am thankful to Allah and all the doctors who treated me. I came here in a very critical condition and was about to die. Thanks to the doctors I am feeling fine now and am looking forward to going back to my school," Ahmad says, as the team of doctors surrounding him smiles.