MIDDLE EAST: A paralysed Gaza girl, who was severely wounded in a 2006 Israeli attack, undergoes surgery expected to help her breath on her own and improve life quality

Record ID: 174023

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: A paralysed Gaza girl, who was severely wounded in a 2006 Israeli attack, undergoes surgery expected to help her breath on her own and improve life quality
  • Date: 16th June 2013
  • Summary: UMM EL-FAHEM, ISRAEL (RECENT) (REUTERS) MARIA AMIN, PARALYSED PALESTINIAN GIRL FROM GAZA, DRIVING HER WHEELCHAIR AS SHE MAKES HER WAY HOME FROM SCHOOL AMIN'S FATHER HAMDI WATCHING OVER HIS DAUGHTER CLOSE OF AMIN AMIN ENTERING HOUSE AMIN AND HER FATHER SEATED IN FRONT OF COMPUTER VARIOUS OF AMIN SITTING IN FRONT OF COMPUTER TUBES ON AMIN'S HANDS THAT HELP HER BREATH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MARIA AMIN, A PALESTINIAN GIRL FROM GAZA WHO WAS WOUNDED AND PARALYSED IN AN ISRAELI ATTACK, SAYING: "I thank the doctor for supporting me and I hope that my surgery succeeds so I can be able to smell everything, to smell food and to smell perfume." AMIN AND HER FATHER LOOKING AT COMPUTER SCREEN CLOSE OF RESPIRATOR (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMDI AMIN, MARIA'S FATHER, SAYING: "By performing this surgery, the doctor will help her in many ways. The doctor has successfully done this surgery many times before, and I ask God to help him complete this surgery successfully." JERUSALEM (JUNE 11, 2013) (REUTERS) MEDICAL TEAM PREPARING MARIA AMIN FOR SURGERY HAMDI AMIN BEING BRIEFED ON PROCEDURE CLOSE OF MARIA AMIN LAYING ON HOSPITAL STRETCHER VIEW OF ROOM FROM HOSPITAL CORRIDOR MARIA AMIN BEING WHEELED THROUGH CORRIDOR TO OPERATING ROOM U.S. DOCTOR, MARK GINSBURG (MIDDLE) AND ANOTHER COLLEAGUE SPEAKING TO HAMDI AMIN CLOSE OF GINSBURG'S NAME TAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) US. DOCTOR, MARK GINSBURG, SAYING: "Maria's problem is that the breathing centre in the brain is not connected to her diaphragm. Her brain is fine she's got a great mind but she can't tell her body to breath so our goal here is to put a pacemaker in which will bypass the electrical connections this will allow her to come off the respirator, remove the tracheotomy and be able to speak better and that's our hope." GINSBURG SPEAKING TO COLLEAGUE (SOUNDBITE) (English) US. DOCTOR, MARK GINSBURG, SAYING: "We've done over a hundred of these (operations) they work if the nerves work and we've tested her nerves already and we know they work so we expect with time, as her diaphragmatic muscles get used to this, the diaphragmatic muscle become stronger again and we think this will work, our expectation is complete that this will be successful." DOCTOR PUTTING SURGERY CAP ON MARIA AMIN'S HEAD MEDICAL TEAM MOVING MARIA AMIN TO SURGERY ROOM SIGN READING IM HEBREW 'OPERATING ROOMS - NO ENTRY' GINSBURG PREPARING FOR SURGERY VARIOUS OF SURGERY IN PROGRESS VIEW OF OPERATING ROOM FROM CORRIDOR HOSPITAL SIGN READING 'HADASSAH ' EXTERIOR OF JERUSALEM'S HADASSAH HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 1st July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem, Israel
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA5C30RV06UNU16Y57P9MLXOC38
  • Story Text: Paralysed from the neck down, 11-year-old Maria Amin from Gaza who moved to Israel for rehabilitation after she was severely wounded in an Israeli attack, is breathing through a respirator and can only move around in a wheelchair controlled by a joystick she guides with her chin.
    Maria was paralysed when the car she was travelling in was hit in a missile attack aimed at a leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza in May 2006. Her mother, grandmother and older brother were killed.
    Following the attack, Maria was unable to move her limbs again, nor breath on her own without the aid of a respirator, attached to her respiratory system through a hole in her neck.
    But that might be changing.
    Hoping to restore the ability to breath on her own and improve her speech and other senses like smelling, Maria has undergone a surgery in a Jerusalem hospital performed by U.S. doctor Mark Ginsburg, who has successfully conducted many similar respiratory procedures.

    "I thank the doctor for supporting me and I hope that my surgery succeeds so I can be able to smell everything, to smell food and to smell perfume," Maria said ahead of the operation.
    Following the attack, Maria was taken to Israel for treatment. Israel's Defence Ministry covered her medical and living expenses and she now resides in the northern Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahem with her father and younger brother.
    After years of slow rehabilitation her father Hamdi Amin said he is now hopeful the surgery and Ginsburg's successful record would bring about a change in their lives.

    "By performing this surgery, the doctor will help her in many ways. The doctor has successfully done this surgery many times before, and I ask God to help him complete this surgery successfully," he said.
    Ginsburg arrived in Jerusalem in June to perform the operation. While preparing for the medical procedure at the Hadassah Medical Centre he explained the surgery will help Maria come off of her respirator.

    "Maria's problem is that the breathing centre in the brain is not connected to her diaphragm. Her brain is fine, she's got a great mind but she can't tell her body to breath so our goal here is to put a pacemaker in which will bypass the electrical connections this will allow her to come off the respirator, remove the tracheotomy and be able to speak better and that's our hope." Ginsburg told Reuters.

    "We've done over a hundred of these (operations) they work if the nerves work and we've tested her nerves already and we know they work so we expect with time, as her diaphragmatic muscles get used to this, the diaphragmatic muscle become stronger again and we think this will work, our expectation is complete that this will be successful," he added.
    Speaking to Reuters after the operation, Ginsburg said the surgery went well, but the extent of it's success is yet to be revealed as Maria will have to adapt to the new breathing mechanism, a process which takes about six months.
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