ny little girl toddling about unaided for the first time is an adorable sight. But when the child is three, and only now able to walk freely like others her age, thanks to a life-saving heart operation, that simple movement is incredibly emotional to watch. Add in the fact that she is joyously waddling about on real grass for the first time, and picking leaves from west London shrubbery – not crawling around bomb craters full of concrete dust and twisted metal in a war zone. Meet Hala al-Massri, the miracle child of Gaza. Three weeks ago, Hala was barely alive. Born with a serious congenital heart defect that prevented oxygen passing round her body, she was surviving – just. She and her family were staying in a UN shelter in the Palestinian enclave that was under daily bombardment. Today, she is recovering after a successful operation at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, giggling and playing, munching cheese sandwiches – looking for all the world like any healthy child. Her skin is still pale, and she tires easily, but the international mercy mission sparked by a news bulletin that revealed her plight, and carried out by the charities Chain of Hope, the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and the International Red Cross, has been a huge success. Talk to Hala’s mother, 36-year-old Mahdeya Abdullah – and you understand how desperate the situation had been, and how remarkable the outcome.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 17:43:20 +0000
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