Pak family awaits US visa for ailing 6-year-old
A desperate Pakistani family anxiously awaiting a US visa for their ailing little girl is running out of time: Maria is just six years old but a rare genetic disease has left her frail body wracked with pain and stunted her growth, reports AP. Soon she will be unable to walk because her vertebrae are compressing her spinal cord.
A US hospital has offered to perform a surgery for free that could significantly improve Maria's condition, but the American Embassy in Islamabad has so far twice refused to give the family visas to travel to the United States, said the girl's father, Shahid Ullah.
When he submitted a visa application again, he was told it will "take time," he said. Ullah has now turned to an American lawyer, Facebook and the media for help, starting a campaign he says could be the last resort. The surgery in the US has been scheduled for November 2, 2016.
"If we delay Maria's surgery, there will be too many problems," said Ullah, who runs a small store selling blankets in the town of Rawalpindi, near the capital of Islamabad.
He said Maria has to be in the US by next Wednesday for pre-surgery tests. He said he embarked on the tortuous quest to find help for Maria nearly four years ago, researching her condition, sending her blood and urine samples to laboratories in India and Germany, connected with families of children with the same disorder, known as Morquio Syndrome. Through the internet, he tracked down doctors with expertise in Maria's condition in Wilmington, Delaware. Ullah said this time he only applied for a visa for Maria, himself and his wife. He plans to leave his other two children behind with relatives during their stay in America.
US Embassy spokeswoman Fleur S. Cowan declined to comment on Maria's case, citing privacy laws, but said she would look into the matter. In Washington, the State Departments said visa records are confidential under US law and that it could not "comment on the specifics of an individual visa case."
"The hope is to do the surgery for the child . . . without any cost to the family," said Chris Manning, who is with the Nemours Children's Health System public relations department.
He added that the hospital also sent documentation to the embassy in Pakistan to facilitate Ullah's visa application.