At first it was not easy for the doctors to understand what the disease of little Hanin could be. At about one year old she had started to walk, like all children, but after a few months every time she tried she fell without being able to get up.
The little girl lives in Deir-ez-Zor , an area deeply affected by the Syrian war. Her parents could not get a definitive diagnosis; they had been told that it was probably polio, but that was not the case.
The diagnosis came at the age of three: Guillain-Barré syndrome. It is a rare disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves, which are the nerves that connect the central nervous system with the body. Some symptoms are similar to polio, such as difficulty in movement, but with physical therapy it is possible to recover and restore motor functions.
Hanin therefore urgently needed to undergo rehabilitation sessions, but it is difficult to do so in a context severely damaged by the war like the city of Deir-ez-Zor . So Hanin, accompanied by her mother, sister and brother, arrived in Homs – hosted by an uncle – where she underwent some physiotherapy sessions thanks to the support of the project Seeds of Hope . And it is here that she met the physiatrist Abdo.
When Abdo first saw her, Hanin was in the most acute stage of the disease, she could not walk or stand. It took all the care, attention and patience of the young doctor to convince the little girl to cooperate in the physiotherapy sessions. In fact, at first, Hanin refused to do the exercises. Her mother’s help was essential. After the third session, the little girl began to interact and trust Abdo. Little by little, she regained the ability to walk. When she left Homs to return home to Deir-ez-Zor, she only had a little difficulty coordinating her movements, but her motor skills had returned!
