Patient Story: Abdul can walk again without pain
Abdul is seven years old and comes from Afghanistan. A painful bone inflammation in his left foot has severely restricted his mobility for several months. Now Dr. David Schramm, Senior Consultant at the Clinic for Trauma, Hand and Orthopedic Surgery at Helios HSK Wiesbaden, has operated on him.
How Abdul contracted this so-called osteomyelitis in his left foot in his home country, his caregivers do not know. But the boy was very lucky and came to Germany to receive medical treatment here. In November 2022, he flew from Kabul to Düsseldorf with many other children and an experienced team of caregivers and was housed at the Friedensdorf in Oberhausen until a clinic specializing in his condition could be found for treatment.
Dr. David Schramm has maintained contacts with Friedensdorf International for years and has frequently operated on children from there. This is also how Abdul came to his attention. At the beginning of February, Abdul was admitted to the Helios HSK. After the first examinations it was clear that one operation would not be enough. With two operations, the damage to the bones of his left foot could be repaired so that he can now walk quite well on crutches. "Abdul will be able to put the crutches aside in a few weeks. The bone inflammation has now stopped and will not hinder him any further," Dr. Schramm is certain. "Due to the long-lasting inflammation on the bone, a so-called fistula had formed with a connection to the outside. We completely removed this and the inflamed part of the bone and refilled the resulting defect with a piece of donor bone. We hope that the body will accept the bone well and Abdul will be able to live a pain-free life again. To support him, he will continue to receive therapy with antibiotics for some time."
Rita Hornung from Friedensdorf International, who is looking after Abdul during his stay in hospital, is happy to see how quickly he is recovering: "Abdul was very brave during his time in hospital. He perked up very quickly after the surgeries and has been eager to practice walking. He is looking forward to showing his progress to his family very soon." Abdul will stay at Friedensdorf in Oberhausen for some more time for his rehab before returning to his family in Afghanistan.
Friedensdorf International e. V. is an aid organization in Oberhausen and Dinslaken that brings sick and injured children from war and crisis zones to Germany for medical care. There are three main areas of focus in the work of Friedensdorf Internation:
- Individual medical aid for injured and sick children whose care is not possible in their home countries.
- Planning and organizing aid projects in war and crisis zones to improve medical care on site.
- Peace policy work to promote humanitarian awareness and social commitment.
