AP News, March 7th, 2007
An 8-month-old Iraqi infant, who suffered nerve damage during birth, is expected to recover some movement in his right hand following successful surgery in Houston.
"It went really well," said Dr. Rahul Nath, the Houston surgeon who performed the two-hour surgery on baby Karm. Nath specializes in treating children with brachial-plexus injuries like Karm's.
Nath had to perform a nerve bypass operation Tuesday after discovering that the child's nerves had been pulled out of the spinal cord. He believes Karm will eventually have movement in his hand.
The infant's father, Mustafa, who staged a global search to find treatment for his son, sent out e-mails to 15 specialists asking for help. Nath was the only one who responded.
Nath, who is performing the costly surgery for free through his Texas Nerve and Paralysis Institute, has been consulting with the family since shortly after Karm's birth.
Karm's parents are both pediatricians and knew that surgery to repair the damage, which left his right arm and shoulder paralyzed, should be performed within a year.
However, politics nearly kept Karm from coming to Houston. The Iraqi Ministry of Health can ban physicians from traveling outside the country _ an effort to halt the exodus of doctors from the war-torn nation. It took months for Zina to get clearance to travel to the United States.
Zina and Karm arrived in Houston late last week, but Mustafa was not allowed to come with his family. The family's last name is being withheld for security reasons.
After their plight was publicized, the family received help from the National Iraqi Assistance Center in Baghdad, a humanitarian relief program run jointly by Iraqis and the U.S. Army Civil Affairs division. A Houston immigration attorney, Nicole Morrison, offered to house the family while they are in Houston.
Although recovery can take up to a year, the little boy can be released from the hospital on Wednesday, and return to Iraq within two weeks, Nath said.
The majority of brachial-plexus injuries, also known as Erb's Palsy, are caused by trauma during delivery. In the worst cases, nerves are pulled out of the spinal cord and the affected limb is left immobile, often becoming gnarled and twisted.
About two of every 1,000 children born in the U.S. have brachial plexus birth injuries, more than the number affected by Down's Syndrome or Muscular Dystrophy. The numbers are higher in developing countries.
