Girl with deformed spine set for record surgery
Nine-year-old Ummi Salma Abdullahi is to undergo a record surgery to correct deformities caused by tuberculosis she suffered at childhood.
Childhood TB destroyed at least six discs in her spine and compressed her spinal cord, says Dr Kawu Ahidjo, consultant spine surgeon at University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.
“This destruction resulted in the complex deformity of the spine, paralysis of her leg, failure of her lungs to expand, and inability to control her urine and faeces.
“Her immediate challenge from this problem is difficulty in breathing and progressive deformity of her spine.”
A team of doctors in Nigeria and abroad is to operate on Ummi Salma to correct the deformity in the coming weeks.
Face of 8, body of one
Ummi Salma was ready for Primary 1 when her condition started, forcing her to stop school and go through lengthy hospitalisation.
The destruction of her spine - visible in an MRI scan she took on Monday - has left her with the face of an eight-year old and the body of a one-year old.
“To breathe is a problem,” her father Abdullahi tells Daily Trust in an exclusive interview.
“Every time you see her crying, when you ask her why, she says nothing. She says she wants to go to school.”
“I miss my friends,” she says with a smile, while gazing at her mother and younger brother.
Stoically, she insists she feels no pain.
She is constantly carried by her father or mother. She can sit or lay down but her back is unable to stay straight.
But Ummi Salma’s condition hasn’t seen “any change” despite years of medication in hospitals in Suleja and their hometown before her eventual referral to UATH.
“The doctors told me they would do some surgeries on her but not in Nigeria. They said America or India, if I have N3m,” says Abdullahi.
“Where will I get three million from? The work I do is just to feed my family and pay my children’s
school fees.”
The plan
Imaging lab, Medicaid, subsidised Ummi Salma’s scan to aid her diagnosis.
But healthcare professionals in Nigeria and abroad under the banner of Naija medics worldwide have begun a campaign to help fund and carry out Ummi Salma’s surgery.
The group will donate all surgical hardware and consumables needed for her surgery as well as a paediatric ventilator to help her breathe during recovery.
They will also volunteer to assist in “planning, operating and post operative rehabilitation” of Ummi Salma’s surgery at UATH under a team led by Dr Ahidjo.
During surgery, surgeons will attempt to straighten her spine by pulling on soft tissues around it, then stabilise it using pedicle screws.
“This halo-traction gravity kit is not available in Nigeria but will be sourced from abroad and the local engineer will work with us to adapt our hospital bed and a wheel chair to accommodate this technical endeavour,” Kawu explains.
He tells Daily Trust: “This surgery has never been attempted in Nigeria and it will be an opportunity to break new ground in our search to develop our health care programme in spine surgery.