ON the morning of November 30, 2009, Iddrisu Rukaya, a 17-year old girl, was found lying in a pool of blood in a gutter at Kakpayili, a suburb of Tamale, by some members of the community.
She had a severe injury on the right frontal bone of the skull and had lost consciousness, an indication that she had been assaulted and dumped in the gutter.
The teenager was consequently rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) for attention, even though her family had lost hope.
“When they brought her, her skull had crushed open and a significant chunk of her brain matter had protruded and stuck to the skin. In fact, she was between life and death,” the Head of the Neurosurgical Unit of the TTH, Dr Adam Abass, told the Daily Graphic.
“The whole bone fragment on that segment was off and sinking into the brain and there was also some debris in the brain,” he said.
Dr Abass said due to the severity of the case, the girl was immediately rushed into the theatre and operated upon.
“We did an incision to separate the skin from the brain and then we picked some wooden chips that had found its way into the brain,” adding that the presence of the pieces of wood could be an indication that she was violently attacked.
“We also undertook some measures to control the bleeding and then because the durra-matter (the skin covering the brain) was damaged, we used a galea to do some grafting for the brain to serve as the skin,” he further narrated.
The neurosurgeon said after the surgery was performed, the young girl was taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) to undergo rehabilitation.
According to the doctor in charge of the ICU, Dr Thomas Anabah, when the girl was brought to the ICU, the challenge was now how to resuscitate her, because she was in a state of coma.
“Part of her body could not move and she could not talk because the part of the brain that had been damaged had a link to the mouth,” he stated.
Dr Anabah said after weeks of care and physiotherapy, “one-day, Rukaya just woke up and said she wanted to urinate and began moving towards the washroom and this evoked excitement among the nurses and all who were in the ward”.
He said the teenager gradually recovered and began moving and talking.
Last week, Rukaya and two of her brothers visited the hospital to say thanks to Dr Abass, Dr Anabah and the entire team that contributed to the teenager’s recovery.
She was moving and talking, but occasionally showed signs of apprehension, especially when attention was focused on her.
Dr Abass said the attitude of Rukaya was to be expected because patients who underwent such major operations suffered post-traumatic seizures.
“This is why we asked the family to bring her to us regularly so that we can attend to her and provide medication during such hiccups,” Dr Abass noted.
Mr Musah Iddrisu, the older of the two brothers, said the family was very grateful to the doctors of the TTH for the professionalism and commitment shown towards the treatment and rehabilitation of Rukaya.
According to him, the family had ruled out the possibility of Rukaya surviving her predicament due to the severity of the injury and were therefore overjoyed that the surgeon was able to bring her back to life.
Mr Iddrisu, however, expressed concern about the criminal aspect of the case and appealed to the police to do thorough investigations to bring the culprits to book.
Interestingly, the surgical operation performed by Dr Abass and his team was the first since he commenced the neurosurgical unit of the TTH.
“I was very delighted about the success of this surgery because since then, subsequent ones have also been successful. It shows how important the unit is to the health of our people,” he stated.
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