A baby boy born in Morocco without a face is going to be operated on by an Australian surgeon, after a call for help on social networks.
Yahya El Jabaly, 3, was born faceless. Without eyes, nor lower jaw, and with a hole instead of the nose. Prenatal complications prevented her bones from fusing. He cannot talk or play with the little boys in his village, not far from Tangier. To protect him from the eyes of others, his parents cover his head every time he leaves the house.
Call on Facebook
But Yahya’s life may soon be turned upside down. A friend of his father decided to launch a call for help on Facebook and posted his photo on the social network. Across the continent, this call has been heard. Fatima Baraka, a woman living in Australia, from a Moroccan village near Yahya’s, was moved by her story.
“He entered my heart, I’m crazy about this little boy …” she said during a program broadcast on Australian channel Channel Seven. She herself has conquered breast cancer and intends to help the El Jabalya family, with whom she immediately contacts.
Fatima Baraka sets out in search of a specialist in reconstructive surgery capable of performing such a delicate operation – Yahya’s father himself tried to find one in Morocco, without success. She contacts Dr Tony Holmes, a big name in the field, known to have separated two Bangladeshi twins, Trisha and Krishna. He accepts the mission.
A high-risk operation
The family flies to Melbourne, where Yahya undergoes a battery of tests to verify that he can be operated on. The examinations are positive; crano-facial surgery will take place in December. Dr Tony Holmes plans to bring the two parts of his skull together and mold his nose from his own skin. With his vocal cords intact, the child might even be able to speak.
But the operation involves significant risks. “He will not necessarily die if we do not operate, but he could die if we operate”, explains the surgeon in the same show. But he remains convinced of the merits of the approach. “It’s everyone’s right to look human, and this child doesn’t look human. This is not an experiment: the goal is to get good results. “
>> See an excerpt from the Channel Seven report on Yahya’s story
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