A Syrian boy has walked out of Israel’s Rambam Hospital on his own two feet, after arriving in critical condition with a head injury that had left him in a coma.
Six-year-old “K” was brought to Israel by his father six weeks ago after suffering life-threatening injuries in an explosion. The same blast killed his mother and sister and also wounded his older brother, who later died of his injuries.
His father begged the Israeli medical team, “Save him – he’s all I have left.”
Immediately after arriving at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, K underwent an hours-long surgery in which doctors worked to reduce pressure on his brain. Doctors were forced to remove parts of his skull.
K spent the next three weeks in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He slowly regained consciousness and began communicating with those around him.
“When the boy came to Rambam he was in a coma, he was nearly dead,” related neurosurgeon Sergey Abeshaus.
After K began to recover, doctors performed two operations to reconnect the pieces of his skull. He remained in the hospital for tests, and began work with a speech therapist, physical therapist, and others, who helped him regain as much of his previous function as possible.
“As the trauma center for northern Israel, and one of the largest in the country, Rambam has a lot of experience with injuries like this,” Dr. Abeshaus said. “Unfortunately, we treat many children with head injuries due to accidents, falls, or other injuries.”
“In this case, we used our experience to save a child who came from a war zone, who was between life and death,” he continued.
“As with all the families of the children we treat, we parted from K and his father like good friends. Ultimately we did what his father asked us to – we did everything we could to save him. I hope he has a long, happy life,” Dr. Abeshaus concluded.