“I am looking forward to playing football and swimming,” says nine-year-old Abdullah.
A boy’s journey from Iraq to surgery in Čepin
When everything is added up, the boy Abdullah Ahmad travelled at least 15,000 kilometres to reach Prof. Milomir Ninković, who operated on his hand, enabled a more normal childhood.
Due to a birth trauma, the boy grew up with paralysis of his arm and limitations that prevented him from enjoying play with his peers. Abdullah is nine years old and was born in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. His parents learned last year that Professor Ninković, one of the world’s leading plastic surgeons, could help him.
Abdullah Ahmad and the story of restoring hand function
They first travelled from Baghdad to Munich and knocked on the door of the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery and Burn Treatment at Bogenhausen Hospital, where Professor Ninković had spent two decades as head of the department. They were not aware that this renowned plastic surgeon had moved at the end of 2023 to the International Medical Center Priora in Čepin near Osijek, where he leads the Department of Plastic, Esthetic and Reconstructive Surgery and Hand Surgery.
Guided by the desire to improve their son’s quality of life, his parents decided to travel to the small town of Čepin. “I feel very well,” the boy says before returning home after the surgery performed under the guidance of Professor Milomir Ninković. “I am looking forward to playing football and swimming,” he adds cheerfully.
His hand condition deprived him of a carefree childhood with his friends. “It is a birth trauma involving an injury to the brachial nerve plexus in the neck region, resulting in loss of innervation of all the arm muscles,” explains Prof. Dr. sc. Milomir Ninković. The surgery will improve the function of the entire arm and hand and thereby enable a more normal life. “I am very grateful to Professor Ninković and the nurses,” says Abdullah Ahmad.
The Slavonian plains left a strong impression on the boy and his family.
