Zalia Rakhmetov, things are looking better

Five months after the terrible accident in Turkey which resulted in Zaila Rakhmetov falling into coma and eventually having several limbs amputated, the 5 year old has now improved significantly. While we keep our fingers crossed, the Rakhmetov's thank all for their generosity in supporting their family and Russian journalist Anna Piunova provides the encouraging update.

"The external fixation has been removed and now Zaila can walk independently. At present she is waiting to receive the prosthesis for her hand (she lost her left hand up to the elbow and several toes on her left foot), this may take two months or more and will be sent from abroad.

Zaila was sent to a Centre of Speech Pathology and Neuro rehabilitation hospital where she began to undergo examination and treatment a week ago. Unfortunately after a week she caught a viral infection and has now returned home to recover.

The rehabilitation period will be long and the main goal for the next year and a half is to ensure she is capable of attending a normal school like all other healthy children at her age  (in Russia children go to school aged 6 or 7). The other option is that she attends a school for children with serious speech disabilities but we believe this to be less favourable as we fear this will have a negative impact on her education and future.

Zaila's present condition is obviously different than before the accident, but having seen the state of children after severe brain trauma, we can only thank God that it is not worse. She has speech problems, with her attention span, learning and memory, but doctors are confident that these are completely resolvable. Only time will tell."