A little girl who was shot in the head as she fled her home in war-torn Syria two years ago is finally getting a chance at a normal life thanks to a team of Manhattan doctors.
Sheyma Nasra was 7 when she lost her 9-year-old brother and her eyesight as snipers shot up the open-roof bus her family was using to flee the city of Aleppo.
A bullet ripped through Sheyma’s head, taking out her right eye, blinding her left one and leaving a crater in her forehead, exposing her brain.
“Her brain was in jeopardy,” said Lenox Hill Hospital plastic and craniofacial surgeon James Bradley to The Post.
“There was no bone on the right side of her forehead, so her brain was pulsating… She could have had a life-threatening infection, memory loss, [and] she could have had many problems down the road.”
Bradley and about nine other doctors at the hospital reviewed Sheyma’s case, which had been brought to them by the not-for-profit NextGenFace around Christmas 2017. The team of doctors devised a surgical plan to help the child — free of charge.
The girl had been taken care of at a hospital in Kilis, Turkey, following the attack. Eventually, Sheyma was granted a visa to the US, and she arrived at the Upper East Side hospital in September.
“She had to get special approval to travel and had to wear a helmet” for the trip because of the open wound on her forehead, Bradley explained.
During her first reconstructive surgery in September, doctors discovered a metal fragment of the bullet lodged where Sheyma’s eye had been, Bradley said.
“We were surprised to find it,” Bradley said. “It really called to mind what was going on in Syria.”
The girl’s mother, Baraem Nasra, 42, was able to join her earlier this month, in time for the second of Sheyma’s three procedures Dec. 10. The mom and daughter are staying with a host family in Middle Village, Queens.
Bradley said the surgeries are like building a house: The first procedure set the foundation for the reconstruction; in the second, doctors implanted balloons to expand Sheyma’s skin, and in her final operation, scheduled for February, they’ll finish closing the opening on her forehead.
“We’re trying to get her back to a place where she can live a normal life,” Bradley said. “She couldn’t do sports, play soccer, play outside” or go to school.
The doctors had initially hoped to be able to restore at least part of Sheyma’s vision in her left eye, but her optic nerve is too damaged, so they’ll be fitting her with a prosthetic eye instead.
“Sometimes we can help people tremendously, and there are a lot of times where we fall short of what we’d like to do for people,” said Dr. Charles Thorne, chairman of Lenox Hill’s Department of Plastic Surgery.
At a check-up appointment Monday, Sheyma giggled and fidgeted in her mother’s arms and called Bradley her “uncle” through an interpreter.
“[I’m] very grateful and thankful that [my] daughter is receiving the top-quality medical treatment,” the mom said through an interpreter.
The doctors were also grateful for the chance to help Sheyma.
“We passed this plan last Christmas, and it’s finally coming to fruition,” Bradley said. “For us, it was a good gift at the end of the year.”
Additional reporting by Olivia Bensimon
