Mona was walking to the makeshift tent she now calls home, just outside Khan Younis, when the explosion happened across the street. She was 35 weeks pregnant and had been out to buy nappies and clothing for the upcoming birth of her first child. These items are scarce in Gaza at the moment, so you get them when you can.
Shrapnel from the blast tore through her legs and body. She remembers the pain clearly.
“It felt very hot, like a burning feeling, in my legs and up to my stomach”
As nearby people ran to help, she held on tightly to the nappies, not letting go for fear of losing them. She was in pain, but still thinking about her unborn child. It was not going to be a simple delivery.
After waiting on the floor at the intensely overcrowded Nasser Hospital Complex Mona was transferred to UK-Med’s field hospital in Al-Mawasi late in the night. The surgical teams were ready and waiting for her.
“There was just a small wound on her hip, pretty innocuous, but inside there was life threatening damage.” Dr Ron van Doorn, Surgeon, UK-Med
The shrapnel had entered Mona’s left hip and pierced holes in her small intestine and worryingly, her uterus. Not only her life, but the unborn baby’s life were in danger.
UK-Med surgeons and gynaecologists worked diligently together in the early hours of the morning to save mother and baby. After hours of surgery Mona was moved to the maternity ward. Her firstborn child, a girl, was taken to Nasser Hospital neonatal unit to be checked. She weighed 2.2kgs (4.8lbs) and was nearly 7 weeks premature, but she was alive.
When Mona woke up from her surgery, she was in a lot of pain, and didn’t know where her baby was. The UK-Med field hospital staff assured her that the baby was safe and well, treated her wounds, and worked hard to get the baby reunited with her mother.
As Mona sits on the bed in UK-Med’s maternity ward, looking at her baby, she appears calm, focussed on her new life. She has named the baby Maria, and hopes that the future will be better for her than the present. A child born in conflict, through challenging circumstances, Maria is already a survivor. Mona hopes she will survive to see peace.
