Maryam is a 4-year-old child. During her first few years of life, she could only lie on her back. She was the first born in the family. Her parents sought help from many doctors, but no one knew what to do. Her parents started to feel hopeless.
In 2020 our Operation Mercy Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) team visited this family for the first time. Her mother cried as she shared her daughter’s story, she had no hope that anything could be done, and she did not believe that Maryam could get better.
The CBR team encouraged her parents that there is hope and said that physical therapy could help to improve Maryam’s condition. Initially, her parents were skeptical but after a few months they started to see an improvement in Maryam's physical abilities. A seed of hope was planted, and her parents were motivated to continue doing exercises with their daughter.
A few months later there was visible improvement in Maryam. During the first two years of her life, Maryam had only laid on her back, but now she could sit with the help of her mother. Slowly Maryam improved from sitting with help, to sitting independently, to standing on her feet, and then taking her first step. During this time our CBR team kept encouraging the family to continue her daily exercises.
After a year and a half of our CBR team working together with her family, Maryam was able to walk 15 steps all by herself! The parents now believe that she can live a normal life like any other child. Imagine their joy!
Increasing the physical quality of life for people with disabilities is one of the goals that our CBR team pursues. We also aim to increase the family’s emotional resilience and restore hope, as well as to help the person with a disability and their family to become more integrated into society.
