Abdullah is a three-year old boy with severe hemophilia A from Pakistan. After falling on a flight of stairs and injuring his head, he quickly developed a large acute epidural hematoma. The boy was brought to the Rehman Medical Institute in Peshawar, where it was determined that he would need urgent surgery. For patients with hemophilia, factor is absolutely necessary for any surgical procedure. In the case of Abdullah, this critical factor was donated by the WFH Humanitarian Aid Program through the Hemophilia Foundation of Pakistan. Without this factor, the surgery would not have been possible, and Abdullah would have died.
Without very needed and precious WFH Humanitarian Aid Program donations, these types of complicated, serious and urgent surgeries [would not be possible].
- Umar Khattak, Representative, HPWS-PESHAWAR Chapter
Abdullah remained in a coma for about three days after the successful procedure. He continued to receive donated factor VIII concentrate during his recovery—eventually totalling more than 4,000 IUs. His mother was overcome with emotion when he woke from his coma, happy that her son had survived his injury and had a new chance at life.
The WFH Humanitarian Aid Program donated over 5.5 million IUs of factor to Pakistan in 2020, and has donated nearly 40 million IUs since 2015. To find out more about the Program and the difference it’s making in lives everywhere, click here.