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ISAF FORCES BRING NEW HOPE TO YOUNG AFGHAN GIRL

  • Published
  • By Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team
QALAT, Afghanistan --  Recently, a team of International Security Assistance Force medical personnel came together to save the life of a nine-year-old Afghan child. 

Toor Pekai has lived with a benign tumor on her face for nearly five years. Benign or not, the tumor grew to impact her speech and ability to eat solid foods. 

Jordanian Lt. Col. (Dr.) Mamoun Al-Basheer and the team of doctors worked tirelessly through a six-hour operation to remove a significant portion of the tumor. Al-Basheer is the director of Eagle 27, the Jordanian medical mission to Afghanistan based in Zabul.
He learned about Toor Pekai the second week in October from U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. (Dr.) Mark Hubner, the senior medical advisor on the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team. Al-Basheer had been in country for one week. 

"I accompanied her from (Forward Operating Base) Lagman here and took her to (Kandahar Air Field) where I, a British surgeon and his assistant formed a team that operated on Toor Pekai," he said. "We restored, hopefully, the functional elements in her face where she has jaw occlusion and she can eat and drink again." 

The surgical team took six hours to remove the tumor on Toor Pekai's face. The growth was an unusual type of tumor called fibrous dysplasia. These tumors tend to be benign and slow growing according to Al-Basheer. 

"Although benign in nature, slow progressing tumors not treated can grow to obstruct eating and breathing," he said. "So, yes, this could have killed her. I couldn't be happier for Toor Pekai. She's a cheerful, lovely girl. There is nothing more satisfying to a physician than doing something that impacts a patient's life to a great degree. It's not just prolonging her life as a little girl; it's giving her a new opportunity with an improved quality of life." 

The Zabul PRT had to weigh the options before deciding on surgery for Toor Pekai.
"It is an ethical dilemma," said Hubner. "Does one spend $1 million on a single case that is dramatic and pulls at our heart strings while at the same time hundreds of children are dying of diarrhea or starvation? Diarrhea is not dramatic. Yet that mother mourns the loss of her child just as much the mother of the 'dramatic' situation. 

"In this case, we struggled with what would be the best balance," he added. "Just because we could not do everything does not mean we should not do anything. Previous cases around Afghanistan show that taking a single patient and sending him back to the U.S., Europe or Canada for dramatic surgery rarely works out for the best -- There is often not follow up capability in rural areas. 

"We were very happy to learn that there were resources as close as KAF to help this girl," said Hubner. "This was multi-national and multi-organizational cooperation at its best. And as a bonus, when she needs future surgery in a few years, the (Afghan National Army) Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon will be able to do it."