Whoever owns life and determination owns everything
Malak, a young girl in her 6th year, began life with four hours of surgery, to repair her spine. After this, she received 45 days of hospital care until she fully recovered.
During her pregnancy, Malak’s mother was committed to regular doctor’s checks. However, it was a shock for her to know that her daughter had been born with Spina bifida and that her life would not be easy. In the beginning, her mother struggled with the news, and her psychological situation worsened, as the doctors declared that the girl would not live long.
The journey of treatment…
At the age of eight months, Malak’s mother started her pursuit in the hope of healing and recovery for her daughter. One day she took her to the Farah Centre in Nablus, where Doctor Waddah Malhees made an assessment for Malak, and referred her to the Jerusalem Princess Bassma Centre, to give her better opportunities for treatment and recovery…at this point, her long journey began.
When Malak first arrived she was a year and a half, and unable to sit, walk or even balance. In addition to weakness in both hands, she also had sensory, cognitive, linguistic, and expressive disabilities, her social activity was very limited and she was fully reliant on her mother.
On her first admission, she received a full treatment plan, with the purpose of empowering and enabling her. The treatments she received included, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and hydrotherapy, in addition to music and sensory therapies.
At the same time, her mother joined the Mothers’ Empowerment Program and benefited from attending all treatment sessions. At the end of each session, the mother received a treatment plan to use at home.
After five and a half years of intensive treatment, Malak is beginning her 10th admission at the Jerusalem Princess Basma Centre; she can now walk independently and has started to join in action games that encourage greater mobility.
Given that she has now developed sufficient skills which enable her to be independent in daily life, and her cognitive and social abilities have improved, she is able to join a first-grade class at her local mainstream school in her town.
Although Malak has a sense of understanding about her disability, she has a huge number of questions about her condition and her disability can still overwhelm her. However, because of her strong and determined spirit, in addition to her family’s support, she is learning to feel more empowered to overcome constraints within her young body, benefiting from both the opportunity of learning and rehabilitation.
“Her ambition is to grow, learn and achieve great goals independently, and to fulfill the desires of her beautiful soul”, her mother adds. “Malak owns life and determination, so she owns everything.”
