America's North Shore Journal

Dr. Robert Elwood, chief of pedi­atrics, Craig Joint The­ater Hos­pi­tal, and Capt. LaRita Abel, nurse man­ager, CJTH, hold a press con­fer­ence about Nazia's upcom­ing surgery at Cin­n­ci­nati Chil­drens' Hos­pi­tal with Afghan media at Bagram Air Field, March 30. In the mid­dle Nazia sits on her brother, Hati­qual­lah Gardezi's lap.

A 2-year-old girl from Gardez province and her fam­ily flew to Cincin­nati, Ohio ear­lier this month to have recon­struc­tive surgery on the child's tra­chea after swal­low­ing a bat­tery a year ago.

Nazia Gardezi had been a per­ma­nent res­i­dent of the Inten­sive Care Wing at Craig Joint The­ater Hos­pi­tal, Bagram Air Field since Octo­ber 2008 when she was brought back to the hos­pi­tal with severe pneu­mo­nia due the family's inabil­ity to suc­tion her air­way properly.

"Unfor­tu­nately," explained Air Force Maj. Robert Elwood, chief pedi­a­tri­cian, Craig Joint The­ater Hos­pi­tal, "this kind of air­way takes a cer­tain amount of rou­tine care. A lot of suc­tion­ing needs to take place and the family's liv­ing cir­cum­stances made it where they were really inca­pable of tak­ing care of it properly."

Elwood said the team of physi­cians who treated Nazia here were able to repair the injury to her esoph­a­gus, but the air­way had so much scar­ring result­ing in a nar­row­ing to the point Nazia could not move air in and out of her lungs.

"For­tu­nately, a group from Cincin­nati Children's Hos­pi­tal Med­ical Cen­ter learned of her case and has offered a team of highly-specialized sur­geons to do a recon­struc­tion of her tra­chea," said Elwood.

As the team of physi­cians pre­pared Nazia for her 4 to 6 month trip, Elwood said she will be greatly missed.

"She has learned to walk here and has learned a very impres­sive vocab­u­lary for a 2-year-old," Elwood said. "The team has come to think of her like one of their own chil­dren. You have to stand in line to get a chance to play with her."

Air Force Capt. LaRita Abel, nurse man­ager, inten­sive care wing, reit­er­ated those thoughts.

"She really has become a part of our fam­ily. Every nurse and every tech­ni­cian really adores her," Abel said.

As far as how it feels to be send­ing Nazia for­ward to the U.S. and putting her in other's hands, Abel said she will miss her dearly.

"She has been a real plea­sure to take care of," Abel said. "It's been a chal­lenge and it's been an honor."

Once the recon­struc­tion to Nazia's tra­chea is com­plete, she will no longer need her tra­cheotomy and will be able to return to a nor­mal life with her family.

That sits well with Elwood.

"She's been a star," Elwood said. "She is a very spe­cial lit­tle girl and we've been very for­tu­nate to have her."

DVIDS
Story by Pfc. Kim­berly Cole