Bethesda, MD - A U.S. mortar attack that hit the wrong target in Iraq has changed the life of one little girl in that country. But the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA) is stretching its reach across oceans and time zones in attempts to rebuild the girl’s life and help her cope with the injury that has so profoundly changed it.
Ma’rwa, a 12-year-old living in Balad, a rural area in the dangerous Sunni Triangle, located just north of Baghdad, was at home with her family when the mortar hit just as Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving. Running outside, she, along with two brothers and a sister, and thirteen other family members were injured. Five members of her family were killed in the blast.
As a result of the injury to her spinal cord, Ma’rwa is paralyzed from the waist down. She has been receiving basic care in a U.S. military medical facility in Iraq, and just received a donated wheelchair this week. But there is no pediatrician on site, and no special medical equipment to treat a paralyzed child. The only American pediatrician in Iraq is trying to lend her assistance from another location, far from where Ma’rwa is hospitalized, and she has no experience with spinal cord injuries.
That’s where the National Spinal Cord Injury Association stepped in. After receiving an email from a concerned National Guardsman from Iowa serving with the US Army in Iraq, detailing Ma’rwa’s situation, Marcie Roth, CEO of the NSCIA, has been working non-stop to help the little girl receive the special care she needs, and even bring her to the United States, if necessary.
"She’s in a terrible environment right now," Roth said. "She’s essentially in a US military MASH unit, and that’s no place for a child who has just sustained this life-changing injury.
"There’s a wonderful team of doctors, nurses and a very dedicated Army physical therapist caring for her the best way they know how, yet we know they are constantly swamped with treating US soldiers and others with life threatening injuries. Moreover, Ma’rwa needs specialized care that she just cannot get in Iraq. That is why we are trying to help."
NSCIA has been working with Senator Harkin’s staff, who have joined in trying to help Ma’rwa. Senator Kennedy’s staff has helped too, by making an initial call to the US Military. Roth has also been working with several government officials, and even sought help from some members of the Jordanian royal family to try to help Ma’rwa get the medical and psychosocial care she needs " possibly here in the United States.
"Her family is in chaos," Roth said. "They are dealing with several deaths, serious injuries, their house was destroyed. There’s a cultural gap, and there’s a general lack of understanding. To compound the shock and horror of the mortar attack with the trauma associated with her spinal cord injury and the depression that usually comes in the beginning, this little girl is in a terrible situation."
Roth added that Ma’rwa was not particularly well-nourished before her injury, and she has faced life threatening weight loss since. In addition, she only has a military cot on which to spend her days and sleep at night, so pressure sores have become a devastating complication, destroying most of one buttock and part of her back. The sore has made her very vulnerable to an infection that could quickly kill her.
Since learning of Ma’rwa’s injury, NSCIA has coordinated with National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) to deploy a tele-rehabilitation team that has been consulting via email and satellite phone with the military medical team on site in Iraq. And four U.S. hospital facilities, including NRH have offered to treat Ma’rwa if the NSCIA can get the girl into the United States for treatment.
"We face an immense challenge right now," Roth said. "There are the medical challenges Ma’rwa faces, but we also have the security and logistical challenges as we try to get this little girl into the United States or into another country that can provide the level of care that she needs."
"The National Spinal Cord Injury Association has always been dedicated to improving the lives of people with spinal cord injuries. We feel compelled to help Ma’rwa if we can. And we won’t stop trying until we know that she is getting the help that will essentially save her life and enable her to maximize her independence. With appropriate pediatric rehabilitation, Ma’rwa can live a very full life. But, if it doesn’t begin soon, her health will deteriorate to a point where she will not be able to benefit".
About the National Spinal Cord Injury Association
The National Spinal Cord Injury Association, founded in 1948, is the nation''s oldest and largest civilian organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for the hundreds of thousands of Americans living with the results of spinal cord injury and disease (SCI/D) and their families, and the thirty individual newly-injured each day . NSCIA educates and empowers survivors of spinal cord injury and disease to achieve and maintain higher levels of independence, health and personal fulfillment by providing peer support and raising awareness about spinal cord injury and disease through education, injury prevention, and improvements in medical, rehabilitative and supportive services, research and public policy formulation. NSCIA has 21 chapters and 19 support groups across the United States actively serving their communities, and a telephone and web-based Resource Center (http://www.spinalcord.org/) serving thousands of individuals each day.
PRINTED COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL SPINAL CORD INJURY ASSOCIATION.