FOR COMA TRAGEDY TOT AGED 5 NHS wants to let my girl die.. I have to fight in the courts for her chance to go abroad
Dilemma mirrors case of littleCharlie
arrive. My sister took over and Tafida let out a breath. I knew it was serious.”
Tafida was rushed to hospital, where a surgeon told Shelina and construction worker Mohammed that she had suffered a ruptured arteriovenous malformation – where blood vessels in the brain become tangled.
“The next 10 hours were the hardest of our lives,” Shelina said. “We were in a state of complete devastation.”
Tafida survived but went into cardiac arrest four times the next day. Doctors brought her back from the brink – and a day later it appeared Tafida was starting to stabilise.
So the parents were stunned when a doctor asked if they had made funeral arrangements. Shelina explained: “A doctor said she couldn’t believe we were keeping Tafida alive and that she was brain dead. It was the first time we’d heard this. She made a comment about us being Muslim and how we’d want her funeral the next day. I was stunned.”
The mum claims medics did a brain stem test, which showed Tafida could breathe unaided for a short time. Shelina added: “They wanted to switch off her ventilator, but we said no. Doctors stopped talking to us about it for about two months.
“We started to notice little Tafida opening her eyes and moving her arms and legs. They talked about her coming home.” But when staff tried to take Tafida off the ventilator she struggled to breathe alone.
And last month, doctors delivered the devastating news that they wanted to withdraw life support.
Shelina said: “I was inconsolable. My whole world had been turned
upside down. Within days, they were asking us where we’d like Tafida to die. I begged for another week, so we could have time together as a family.”
Shelina used that time to research alternative treatments and discovered children with severe brain injury made remarkable strides after visiting Istituto Giannina Gaslini in Genoa.
The clinic’s medics conducted a video examination of Tafida and were willing to attempt treatment.
Shelina said: “They said she didn’t satisfy the conditions of brain death, which is what we’d said all along.
“But UK doctors wouldn’t let her go.
I’ll fight this all the way.” A spokeswoman for Barts Health NHS Trust said: “This is a sad situation, in which our teams continue to work very closely with the family to include them and offer our support.
“Our clinicians consider, in discussion with experts from specialist centres, that further treatment would not improve her condition and would not be in her best interests.
“We recognise how difficult this is and are seeking the expert opinion of the High Court to ensure the trust and the family provide the most appropriate care.”
To donate to Tafida’s treatment cost, visit gofundme.com/f/save-tafida