Ajit Karn
Girl was rescued after 40 hours under the wreckage
Idlib: Syrians have been moved by the story of a brave nine-year-old girl named Sham, whose story shows the tragedy, hope, and heartbreak of the earthquake that hit her country, which is in the middle of a civil war.
She was rescued after 40 hours under the wreckage, but her doctors warn she may need both legs amputated due to tissue damage from crush trauma.
She was stuck under the rubble for 40 hours before she was found alive. Her doctors say that because of the crush injuries, she may have to have both legs amputated soon.
Sham was praised for her bravery after she hummed a tune with her rescuers from the White Helmets as they worked for six hours to get her out of the concrete. This was caught on video that has gone viral online.
Mohammed Nasreddine, one of the group’s volunteer rescuers, told AFP that when they heard her sing “Damascus,” it gave them strength. They would hum the tune together.
“When she got out, our joy was beyond words,” said Nasreddine, whose White Helmets group is known for getting people out of bombed buildings in rebel-held parts of Syria during the civil war.
Sham, like many people who lived through the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria on February 6 that killed over 44,000 people, is now suffering from what doctors call “crush syndrome.”
It happens when a limb hasn’t had enough blood flow for too long. It starts with a lot of pain in the affected limb, which may still look healthy at first.
In rhabdomyolysis, muscle fibres die and their waste is released into the bloodstream, which can sometimes lead to kidney failure.
At first, patients seem to be in good shape, but then their health starts to get worse.
“This is what we call ‘the smile of death,'” said orthopaedic surgeon Tarek Mustafa. He went on to say that it can lead to heart problems and other problems that could be fatal.
– Risk of amputation –
“Sham is one of several people with the syndrome who have been admitted to hospitals in the region,” Dr. Mustafa said. At least 100 people with the syndrome have been reported by health services in rebel-held Idlib.
Many of the people who died are traumatised children, some of whom had already lost one or both parents in the tragedy.
Sham’s mother and sister died when the building her family lived in collapsed in the town of Armanaz in the province of Idlib in the northwestern part of the country. Sham’s father and two brothers were also alive.
The family moved there in 2019 to escape a military offensive by the Syrian regime, which is backed by Russia and has regained control of most of the country since the war began in 2011.
The surgery to cut off one of Sham’s legs has been put off for now, but she is still not safe, said Dr. Mustafa, who works in one of the hospitals in the northwest that is run by the Syrian American Medical Society.
When the White Helmets heard that Sham might have to have her legs cut off, they sent out a tweet asking their followers to pray for her and other survivors who are dealing with crush syndrome.
Ziad Hamdi, another person who helped save the group, remembered how “I was trying to get her legs free when I started to cry. She made me think of my daughter, who is five.”
In the clip, he is heard telling Sham that if she can just hold on a little longer, he will take her to a theme park.
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“I want to wear pretty clothes,” said the little girl with a smile. “I wish I was a princess.”
Hamdi said, “She’s smart, I didn’t expect such a response from a child fighting for her life.” “We made a promise. I’ll take her to an amusement park and buy her whatever she wants.”
Girl was rescued after 40 hours
