Watch the video of the girl below.
[rumble video_id=v5b307 domain_id=u7nb2]
Eleven-year-old Afsheen Kumbar has been in constant pain for most of her life because of a muscular disorder that has caused her neck to remain bent at a 90-degree angle, leaving her head hanging. She needs surgery in order to save her life but her family is too poor to afford it.
Afsheen, from Mithi in Sindh province, Pakistan, is unable to keep her head upright. Because of this, she can’t go to school and only has her widowed mother Jameela, 52, and her elder brother Mohammad Yaqoob Kumbar, 27, to care for her.
Yaqoob said: “We are worried about her future.
“We do not know what will happen to her.
“We are anxious that if she is left untreated, she could develop some other disease.”
Like her six other siblings, Afsheen was born normal.point 305 |
But at eight months of age, she fell to the ground outside the house while playing and hurt her neck.point 82 | Her parents didn’t think much of it at first but as she got worse, they brought Afsheen to a local faith healer because they lacked the money to bring her to the hospital.point 227 |
But she never improved.point 20 | 1
Growing older only brought more complications.
Two years ago, Afsheen’s story went viral and a prominent female leader promised to help the family by sponsoring a surgery.
At Agha Khan University Hospital in Karachi, doctors examined Afsheen. But the planned surgery was delayed because of a marriage in the family.
The surgery was further put in limbo when the female leader refused to answer Yaqoob’s calls after that delay.
Yakoob said: “The doctors at the Agha Khan Hospital performed all the tests.
“They told us there is a 50% chance for the successful surgery and asked us to go home and think over it.
“However, after a month, the leader who promised to sponsor for the surgery never responded to my repeated calls or connected with us.
“We did not have money to take Afsheen to the hospital on our own.
“In the last year, she has been at home. She has not seen a doctor.”
Yaqoob used to work at a mobile shop but was forced to quit work because of the demands of seeing to Afsheen’s check-ups. Their father, Allah Jurio, passed away from cancer.
The family is now making do with Jameela’s meager earnings as a domestic helper.
Yakoob said: “I had to quit my job because I had to look after Afsheen. I was taking her to hospital but ever since I have been jobless.
“We have no money to pay for her hospital fees.
Yaqoob has issued a desperate plea for help from good Samaritans and the Pakistani government to come to Afsheen’s aid.
“We took her to a local doctor in our city but he said only specialists can treat her.
“He advised us to take her to a foreign country!
“We have no money to take her to a different city, how will we take her to a foreign country?
“I am pleading the government and locals here to please help my sister. She needs surgery to live a normal life.”