21-year-old Islam Hussein lost both his hands and eyesight in September 2017 after he accidentally stepped on a mine while walking on the street in war-torn Yemen.
Islam hails from a village near Taiz and is the third of six children of a 45-year-old school teacher. Taiz is a war-torn region where firefights are daily occurrence and landscape is filled with landmines. The explosion left his face disfigured, mangling his eyesight and shattered his limbs. He was rushed to hospital in neighboring country Egypt. His hands were so badly injured that doctors were left with no option other than amputating both his arms below the elbow to prevent the spread of infection. They also recommended amputating both his legs, but Islam’s father refused to give permission.
Doctors at Egyptian hospital were incapable of helping him further and advised his parents to seek treatment in India. The family first went to Jaipur where Islam underwent plastic surgery on his foot. Following treatment in Jaipur, his parents took him to AIMS in Kochi (Kerala) in December 2017.
The 8-hour-long corneal transplant surgery involved complete reconstruction of Islam’s left eye and was led by Dr. Anil Radhakrishnan and the team of ophthalmologists.
“Islam’s right eye was impossible to recover as structure behind the lens was badly damaged so we focused on the left eye. We reconstructed eye structure and conducted corneal transplant. But we were not sure whether surgery would work because there was a membrane in front of the retina,” words by Dr. Radhakrishna.
“But it was joy all around when Islam opened his eye a day after surgery and could see his mother in front of him. He has regained 90 percent of the vision in his left eye and can see perfectly with the help of glasses”, he said.
When he opened his eyes, he could not control his emotions and hugged the doctors who performed his surgery. “It is beautiful to see again and rebirth for me. I had given up all hopes but Indian doctors helped me to find hope in life once again,” he said.
Before losing eyesight, Islam wanted to become an engineer. But after witnessing medical miracle now he wants to be a doctor. “I want to be a doctor and treat people who lost all hopes,” he said.
Islam is now looking forward to hand transplant which will allow him to live a normal life.