Welcome to The National's weekly newsletter Beshara, where we share the most positive stories of the week.
Some stories resonate more deeply and personally than others because they address the challenges that directly affect our own lives.
For me, news of a world-first gene therapy trial that has restored the hearing of a toddler in the UK hit very close to home this week.
But not, as you might expect, because I would want my own hearing restored. It actually made me ponder the many benefits of my lifelong deafness – not least being able to switch off my hearing aids and have utter peace and quiet at will!
But the drive to find a solution from the otologist who led the study and the leap of faith from the little girl's family are nothing short of heroic.
This same passion, determination and willingness to take risks reverberate through each of the stories below – and who knows, the results may one day prove to be life-changing for you or someone you know.
Best wishes always,
Nicola
A day of blessings
There is so much to love about this story and so many examples of medical advancements to admire.
Baby Fatima, rightly being celebrated in this joyous photograph by the team at the Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Centre, has just become the first patient in the UAE to be diagnosed with and then treated for Krabbe disease.
While there is no cure for the condition, which attacks brain cells and severely reduces life expectancy, she is recovering well after a life-saving bone marrow transplant.
But what is more remarkable is that this was all thanks to Baby Fatima’s pregnant grandmother who donated bone marrow immediately after giving birth.
“It felt so great to be able to help both my daughter and my granddaughter at the same time and, above all that, I had a newborn baby in my arms.
“It was a day of blessings.”
And there is more to this amazing story – read it here.
QUOTED
'I felt good. I finally felt like something was happening, and once I spoke to the team here, I felt comfortable'
Chloe Bremner, who suffered excruciating pain for 10 years due to endometriosis – a disease that affects millions of women – says the agony is over after a hospital in Abu Dhabi responded to her pleas for help
Close to her heart
Dr Angeliki Asimaki has undergone nine heart operations because of a condition that she was born with and by the time she was 15, she had to be fitted with a pacemaker.
But to the greater good of so many others, she has channelled those difficult experiences into a career dedicated to helping people with heart conditions.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of the London-based cardiac specialist, patients at imminent risk of a heart attack can now be identified and treated without the need for invasive surgery.
“I’m incredibly proud and happy that even if my work helps save one child, then I feel like I have fulfilled my purpose in life,” she told Nicky Harley.
Read more on her incredible work and outlook here – and spoiler alert, there are some very cute photographs.
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SNAPSHOT
This innovative and determined orangutan healed a very painful-looking wound with his own tincture, stunning the scientists who published a paper about it this week.
Rakus, a wild male Sumatran orangutan in Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia, applied a paste he had made with chewed leaves from a medicinal plant.
The snapshots show before and after pictures of his self-devised treatment.
See more captivating photos captured this week
IMPACT ON INSTAGRAM
HIGHLIGHTS
| Emirati pilot looking forward to ‘walking on Mars’ during Nasa mission | |
| Tirazain, the digital archive of traditional Palestinian embroidery | |
| Can palm oil production be environmentally sustainable? |
