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Case Studies

Reem Felani, Saffa, 2013

Reem Falane is a three yearold child from Saffa in the West Bank who suffers from eye problems. After successful treatment at St. John Eye Hospital her vision has improved enormously.

When she was only five months old, Reem’s mother noticed that there was something wrong with her daughter’s eyes and she decided to take her to St. John Eye Hospital to get her eyes examined.

Reem Case Study

Nafez Al Mutawak, Gaza, November 2012

Four year old Nafez Al Mutawak is from Gaza. Every six months, he and his mother have to get a permit so that they can come to SJEHG Jerusalem, where Nafez must undergo an examination under anaesthesia. Neither event is very likely to warm the heart of a small boy and his worried mother.

In October 2010, concerned at the white reflection from the retina of her son’s right eye, Mrs Al Mutawak brought the then two year old Nafez to our Gaza Clinic.

Three month old Abdullah Faqieh from Ramallah was suffering from congenital cataract in both eyes when his parents Ahmad and Nema brought him to us in Jerusalem at the beginning of September.

In the United Kingdom, only around 200 children are born with congenital cataract every year (RNIB, 2012). Yet in the oPt, it is quite common for us to treat babies and infants for cataracts.

Nijmeh, Ramallah, September 2012

Nijmeh, from Ramallah, initially attended the main clinic of SJEHG Jerusalem for a mild “chemical abrasion” when she was seven years old. She had splashed salad dressing in her left eye. The eye healed well using eye drops but during her examination at the hospital, it was found that her left eye was far less effective less than her right eye.

75 year old Mrs Alia’a Sharakeh lives, with her husband, in the Jalazone Refugee Camp in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located just over four miles (7 kilometres) north of Ramallah.

Mr and Mrs Sharakeh have been married for 45 years and have six daughters and four sons, all of whom are married. Both parents used to work in farming, but now depend upon the little extra income their children are able to spare them.

Car mechanic Falah Mohammad Qawasmeh is a 52 year old father of 12 (eleven sons and a daughter) from Hebron.

When he first presented at our Hospital in Hebron in February 2008, Falah was suffering from cataract in his right eye and the condition was making life at work difficult; optimum vision being vital to achieving the level of workmanship required of his profession.

Sanabel, Jerusalem, June 2012

14 year old Sanabel first presented to SJEHG, Jerusalem at the age of five years, 8 months. At that time, she had been squinting for one and a half years.

9 year old Diya Dweikat and his family live in the largest refugee camp in the West Bank, Balata, adjacent to the city of Nablus in the north.

Diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma (the cancer has spread to his bones and bone marrow) in July 2006, Diya is being treated by the Department of Paediatric Haematology at Hadassah.

Sahar Khateeb, Deer Estya, ‎May ‎2012

23 year old Sahar Mahmoud Khateeb from the village of Deer Estya near Salfeet in the central West Bank’s Samarian Highlands is newly graduated in Sociology from Al Najah University, the largest in the oPt. She is currently not yet working and is living at home with her family.

During her years of study, Sahar had felt a weakening in her sense of sight and, having already been diagnosed with diabetes, feared that this could be a result of diabetic retinopathy.

Baha Salim, Nablus, May 2012

In 2004, when Baha Salim was 15 years old, he was shot in the right eye. As a result, he suffered massive destruction of both the eye and the socket. Unfortunately, at that time, he received a very poor standard of post-traumatic care, with little attention paid to any cosmetic reconstruction.