11-year-old boy’s arm was left deformed after he was bitten by a snake when playing football outside with his friends.
By Padma Murughappun, Amy Reast
In a heart-wrenching tale of resilience, young Yusif’s arm was left grotesquely deformed after a venomous snake bit him while he was playing football at the tender age of five in Mariba Town, Southern District, Sierra Leone. The bite resulted in significant tissue death in his right arm, causing it to become increasingly distorted over time, with his wrist bending severely inwards.
His mother, Mariama, scrimped and saved to take her son to see a doctor, only to be told that his agonising, dysfunctional hand required amputation.
However, hope arrived when Mariama learned that the Mercy Ship, known as the Global Mercy, would dock in Sierra Leone, offering free surgeries to those without access to healthcare. Yusif underwent two surgeries to release his contracted limb and then had a pin inserted through his wrist to straighten it.
Miraculously, he regained full use of his arm.
Now, the ambitious schoolboy dreams of becoming a doctor to give back to others as he was helped. Mariama shared: “Before his surgery,, Yusif felt ashamed and became very shy.
“He would hide his arm inside his shirt all the time, so it started to bend that way. When I saw Yusif’s hand straight, I was so happy. We both hugged with beautiful smiles. Then Yusif said ‘Mummy, see my hand.'”
The aftermath of the snakebite was harrowing for Yusif, with his arm bruising and blistering up to his elbow, causing excruciating pain. With no ambulance service from his remote village, a traditional healer provided some herbs for him to ingest.
However, what he truly needed was antibiotics. Without them, the tissues in his arm died and the limb became deformed.
When Mariama finally managed to take Yusif to a medical doctor, they were told that the arm was beyond saving. “The doctor saw Yusif’s hand and said that the hand must be cut off,” she recalled.
“I refused to cut Yusif’s hand off.”
Mariama had to endure watching her son grow up with a painful, non-functional arm, often moved to tears by his struggles. Seven years after the injury, news of the world’s largest charity hospital ship docking in their country brought hope.
On October 18, 2023, Yusif underwent a complex three-hour operation aboard the Global Mercy to release the contracture on his elbow and wrist. A second surgery on November 8 to insert a pin in his wrist concluded the procedures.
After the surgeries, Yusif embarked on a lengthy and often painful rehabilitation process onboard the Global Mercy with volunteer hand therapists. For three months, the team worked closely with Yusif to help him regain control of his elbow, wrist, and fingers.
Tertius Venter, a volunteer surgeon from Mercy Ships who operated on Yusif, stated: “With appropriate, early treatment, and antibiotics to stop infection, the limb could have been saved.”
“But in Yusif’s case, he did not have access to proper treatment, so it caused widespread tissue death and infection.”
Mariama’s heart swelled with joy upon witnessing the remarkable change in her son and the beaming smiles that now graced his face. With a newly strengthened right arm, Yusif is set to rejoin school He expressed his newfound zest for life: “I was not able to do anything before with my hand, but now I can do everything. I can help my mum, I can play football, and go to school without feeling ashamed.”
His aspirations are high as he shared his dream: “I want to become a doctor.”
And his reason is touching and personal: “Because I want to help people like how Mercy Ships helped me.