Mother Makes £500,000 Appeal To Rebuild Baby's Face

Ananova ^

[Asmodeus]

27 February 2002
Mother makes £500,000 appeal to rebuild baby's face

A mother whose baby was born with half a face has appealed for help in raising £500,000 to rebuild her features.

Maria Rafi was born two months ago with a rare condition which left her without her right eye and ear, only half her nose and missing half her right jaw.

She was the only one of three triplets to survive the pregnancy and doctors only gave her a 50-50 chance of surviving, her mother says.

She was born in the Middle East with the condition Goldenhar Syndrome - a condition affecting one in 500,000 births.

Her mother Suzanne, of Heaton, Newcastle, said: "When I first saw her I didn't know what the future would hold. She is a gift from God and she has a purpose in life.

"We have to fight for her as parents and I wouldn't exchange her for 1,000 'normal' babies."

Mrs Rafi, 25, and husband Aziz, a 29-year-old who is studying for a masters degree in information technology at Sheffield's Hallam University, now want to raise £500,000 to pay for up to 20 operations to rebuild her face.

"Once the operations are done we hope the worst she will have is a glass eye," she said.

Surgeons could take a rib from the little girl and reform it into her jaw, her mother says.

An appeal fund has been set up by the family and people who would like to make a donation are asked to pay money into the Abbey National, account number X12690931ALR sort code 0900 00.

[GeronL]

ouch, just the headline says enough

[Hawkeye's Girl]

How sad :(

[GeronL]

2 months?? hello?? this kid will get bigger in the next coupla decades and those formed features won't... more operations would be needed later if they do it this soon, but if I could I would help

[Cold Heat]

The University of Arkansas Medical Center does work in this area I believe. It's amazing what they can do. The baby would have to be a lot older to do the complete sugery though. They have to grow a lot of extra skin and cartilage. I have seen some of these operations on TV.

[xm177e2]

She should do what any self-respecting kid with a birth defect does: cover it up with metal plates, and when she grows up, become a supervillain.

[cinFLA]

, but if I could I would help

And?

[ET(end tyranny)]

2 months?? hello?? this kid will get bigger in the next coupla decades and those formed features won't... more operations would be needed later if they do it this soon, but if I could I would help

Good point regarding growth and new surgeries. I'm also a bit cautious. Our government has closed certain accounts with ties to the Middle East. Could this be a way for a terrorist groups to try and get money??

In a large city near to where I live, we recently had two foreign kids with a skin disease. Where the skin fits so tightly that it cracks and they couldn't even close their eyes. Anyway, don't doctors and or surgeons often do these types of operations for free or something? I don't know how these kids with the skin disease had theirs paid for, but was under the impression that it was done without cost.

It seems that this baby would fall into a group where some curgeons or doctors would treat her, out of the goodness of their hearts, too.

[LasVegasMac]

She should do what any self-respecting kid with a birth defect does: cover it up with metal plates, and when she grows up, become a supervillain.

Now that is a nice thought!

I hope Santa leaves a nice big, cold reindeer turd in your stocking next Christmas.

You have a cold heart. No kids, obviously.

LVM

[Cold Heat]

now want to raise £500,000 to pay for up to 20 operations to rebuild her face.

I have to point out that the socialized medicine in England seems kinda expensive.

[GeronL]

hhhm. even Pat Robertson had a group that went to poor countries to perform simple operations (cleft palate (or lip?))

[GeronL]

#8 has a point. What if this fundraising is a front for terrorists? What f the operations won't cost nearly that much?

[xm177e2]

I was just being sarcastic... I even used the word "supervillain," why would that appear in a serious post?

[Cold Heat]

Damn good possibility. Ananova does not give any info on how this story came to them nor any pics. One would have to check them out in Sheffield England.

[GeronL]

I would hope any wealthy benefactors did check them out... someone should tell Ted Turner and Bill Gates that this is a more worthy cause than the UN and World Family Planning (if the story is true)

[Demidog]

Socialized medicine in the U.S. is even more expensive.

[My Favorite Headache]

Jesus Christ...a thread where I thought I would not be able to laugh in and then you had to post that...LMAO!

[Cold Heat]

Yup! but it's better! LOL! At least Billary did not get the stuff they wanted passed.

[Demidog]

At least Billary did not get the stuff they wanted passed.

Actually she did. It just wasn't done in one fell swoop like she wanted. But much of what she wanted was passed in seperate legislative acts much of it having to do with our medical records. They're not ours anymore.

[Cold Heat]

I can't disagree. The medical system has been moving in that direction. It is primarily because of medicare and medicade. I give it another 10 to 15 years to convert completely. I do believe that we will still have private insurance for those that can afford it. The problem now is that small hospital emegency rooms are breaking the backs of the rural hospitals. Some 35 million uninsured are using those rooms for regular medical care. It is a problem.