¬ AHMED NEEDS HELPING HANDS
Wheelchair user needs machines to stop his muscles from wasting,
ABU DHABI // Ahmed Abdelaziz was paralysed from the waist down more than 20 years ago but his condition is not a result of injury or disease.
As a child, he was taken to the doctor about a fever and given an injection that changed his life.
“When I was six years old, my parents took me to a government hospital in Abu Dhabi because my temperature was so high,” he says.
At the hospital a doctor, who has since fled the country, gave Mr Abdelaziz the injection that cost the boy the use of his legs.
“It started with my right leg,” he says. By age 11, Mr Abdelaziz, now 34, had lost the ability to move both legs.
“My parents were so upset and even took me abroad for treatment,” he says.
“They didn’t press charges or sue the doctor because they were so focused on finding me treatment. When we later asked about the doctor, we were told he fled the country.”
Mr Abdelaziz’s parents , of Sudanese descent, died 10 years ago and he lives in shared accommodation in Dubai with eight other people. He has no full-time job.
“I’ve had three surgeries but they were of no use,” he says. “They cut me up and put bolts in my knees.”
Doctors advised that the only way to save the remainder of Mr Abdelaziz’s limbs was to keep his muscles moving.
“That injection caused muscular weakening and failure,” he says.
With the use of prosthetic legs and back support, Mr Abdelaziz is able to move, but the prosthetics need to be adjusted and replaced every four years.
“The prosthetics were a lifesaver,” he says.
“They were all I needed and better than any surgery, which always led to more pain.”
The equipment costs Dh75,000, which Mr Abdelaziz cannot afford. He now uses a wheelchair and is in great pain.
“The last time I could use my prosthetic legs was in 2011,” he says.
His body is gradually weakening and wasting away.
“I can’t even sit up on the wheelchair any more because my back can’t support me,” he says. “I am not moving, so my muscles are weakening.” Hisham Al Zahrani, manager of zakat and social services at Dar Al Ber Society, said: “Without the equipment, which includes artificial legs and back support, his body will waste away and he will be completely paralysed.”