Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch: Samba experienced his personal miracle
The experts at Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch save the life of a young boy from Senegal in a total of 77 operations. The story of the recovery of the then three-year-old Samba began ten years ago, shortly before Christmas Eve, and is now coming to a happy conclusion.
Everyday life in Senegal is not comparable to Germany. Almost half of the people in the West African country live in poverty and just as many are illiterate. Cynthia Clottey has seen this picture and the struggles of the Senegalese time and again. As a stewardess for a major German airline, she travels all over the world. Her journey also took her to Senegal. She was moved by the fate of the people. In order to alleviate some of this suffering, Cynthia Clottey and her friends raised a lot of money and were thus able to start implementing the project close to her heart, the construction of the SAGE Hospital children's hospital in western Senegal, in 2003.
During one of her regular visits to the site in 2013, Cynthia Clottey met the mother of little Samba. The three-year-old had accidentally drunk caustic soda, which corroded his esophagus. As a result, the boy visibly lost weight despite having a feeding tube inserted in Senegal and weighed barely more than four kilograms. He was threatened with an agonizing death by starvation.
Help comes from Berlin
The Berlin woman was alarmed at the sight. She quickly decided to take a photo of the boy and contacted several German hospitals with it. "We immediately received a positive response from the Helios Hospital in Berlin-Buch, one day before Christmas Eve. They wanted to take care of Samba. The 'Ein Herz für Kinder' foundation also assured us of their active support," Clottey recalls of this Christmas miracle.
In order to be able to travel, Samba was given strength on site. At the same time, the little boy began a period of his life that will probably be one of his most formative. By the summer of 2023, he had undergone 77 operations. "Initially, the completely scarred oesophagus was widened and scars were smoothed out. In May 2014, Samba was able to enjoy water ice again for the first time - what a joy for him," his Berlin rescue angel remembers his beaming face.
Interventions with high risk
Samba spent the first three years of his treatment entirely in Germany. He quickly learned the German language and today says he has three families: his own in Africa, Cynthia and the team at Helios Hospital. "Thanks to the medical help, Samba is a happy, life-affirming child again," emphasizes Cynthia Clottey. And a clever one too. Now 14 years old, he speaks German, French and his mother tongue, one of Senegal's 20 different national languages.
However, Samba's treatment also shows how much medical technology has developed over the past ten years and what treatment options are available today. Nevertheless, there was always a residual risk for Samba, not least because of the large number of anesthetics. "Initially, the oesophagus was surgically widened using a pedicled tissue flap. This was achieved by swinging a section of the large intestine with its supplying blood vessels from the abdomen into the chest and stitching it onto the esophagus to widen it," explains PD Dr. Stefan Gfrörer, Head of Pediatric Surgery at Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch. It is he who, together with a dedicated nursing team, has been working on the boy's recovery for some time.
"Part of the scar tissue repeatedly developed a narrowing of the esophagus, which had to be dilated under anesthesia. We discovered that rising acidic fluid from the stomach was causing the repeated narrowing of the oesophagus. Therefore, another operation had to be planned," explains the surgeon. This 75th operation, an anti-reflux operation on the stomach (fundoplication) in August 2022, was particularly frightening for the boy. "Without it, however, his life prognosis would have been significantly shorter," says Dr. Gfrörer. The stomach acid constantly leaking back into the oesophagus would have repeatedly led to constrictions and possibly also to accompanying inflammation of the adjacent airways.
After the successful operation in August 2022, no further stretching of the oesophagus was necessary. "Since then, Samba has only required observational examinations at longer intervals," says Dr. Gfrörer, who is highly satisfied with the development.
Grown personality
Since he was seven years old, Samba has shuttled back and forth between Senegal and Germany for treatment. "Of course we considered leaving him in Germany. But his roots are in West Africa - and that's where he feels at home, that's where his identity lies," says Cynthia Clottey. However, the contact with Germany has not only benefited his health, but also his personality thanks to his attendance at the Berlin European School. "Samba is very mature for his age and also takes uncomfortable paths. For example, he is committed to equal rights for girls among his peers and even gives lectures on the subject of menstruation. That's courageous," says Clottey, praising her protégé.