Big step to a new life

From the archive, first published Saturday 4th Feb 2006.

A mother has sold all her belongings to bring her six-year-old daughter from Central Asia to Oxford for surgery that will enable her to run and play for the first time.

Bahar Kadyrova has travelled with daughter Gulshat, who was born without any hip sockets, from their home in Yoleten, in Turkmenistan, after an appeal for help with treatment was answered by specialists at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, in Headington.

With donations from supporters in Oxford and the US, Miss Kadyrova has managed to raise about £6,000 towards life-changing surgery for the little girl.

But she still needs to raise a further £7,000 and has made an appeal to Oxfordshire residents for help.

Miss Kadyrova, 31, who earns the equivalent of £40 a month working as an accountant, has sold all her household belongings, apart from a phone, to pay for Gulshat's treatment, but has no further funding.

Speaking through translator Amy Schondelmeyer, who has travelled from Russia to stay with the mother and daughter in a rented flat in Cowley, she said: "My only hope is to see my child healthy, playing like other children.

"It's my wish and dream for her to be able to walk properly and run for the first time."

Gulshat's condition was only diagnosed at the age of three, when her mother became concerned that she had not started to walk and was having difficulty crawling.

Doctors in Turkmenistan thought that by putting her in a plaster cast for nine months, her bone structure might grow into shape, and prevent her hip and leg bones from "slipping" apart.

After the cast was removed, Gulshat started to learn to walk and doctors in Turkmenistan said she would "grow out" of the condition.

But Miss Kadyrova was told last week by doctors at the NOC that the previous treatment had caused her daughter's condition to worsen. She will undergo an operation on March 6, when doctors will create hip sockets to correct the problem.

American Miss Schondelmeyer, who met Gulshat after becoming friends with Miss Kadyrova's sister Shemshat, 29, while working as a linguist in Russia, said: "If the condition was caught sooner and treated more effectively, it could have been rectified relatively simply, but the problem went unchecked for too long and the wrong treatment was given.

"Without this surgery, Gulshat would face a very painful future and would never be able to run."

Miss Schondelmeyer helped to organise treatment after contacting fellow linguist Jennie Hallows in Oxford last May. She said: "Jennie has a friend who's a doctor and he knew about the surgeon at the NOC.

"When the surgeon heard about Gulshat, he said he'd be more than happy to help."

No-one from the NOC was available to comment, but Miss Kadyrova said she could hardly express her gratitude to those who had already helped.

Archive Home