Abu Ali - Muscle Atrophy not dampening the spirits:
Hussain Mahmoud Al Rahma tours the offices of the Desert Group, Dubai, in his wheelchair distributing mail with a smile on his face. He has far exceeded the expectations of his doctors by challenging the debilitating illness he has been diagnosed as having. He has been determined to work since the age of 15.
Although being able to run and walk like other children in his early childhood he now is only able to get around on four wheels after being diagnosed with a disease that causes atrophy of the muscles at 9 years old that has severely restricted his mobility. The disease caused curvature of the spine making it difficult to raise his head.
Now, Hussain is 18 years old. He completed 3 years of work at Desert Group last week. He is very cheerful and says “I was the youngest person to be granted a work permit and in spite of these physical difficulties I love my work very much because it gives extra value to my life”. This is why the employees are used to seeing “Abu Ali” as they call him staying late at the office, even after official working hours, to complete his duties delivering the mail and documents to various places on time and with without error.
In spite of his handicap Abu Ali moves speedily, and visitors to the Desert Group can hear everyone greeting “Abu Ali” wherever he goes. He is an employee of the Human Resources Division and is responsible for the delivery of mail.
Abu Ali is suffering from a hereditary muscular disease which weakens the muscle strength making his body unable to support his body weight. Initially doctors in the U.A.E. were mystified, as none were able to diagnose his illness advising his father to “change his shoes” until finally one doctor identified the disease.
His parents spared no efforts in trying to fight the disease. The last attempt was major surgery carried out in Germany, with the expenses paid by Shaikh Rashid Hospital in Dubai, which has not so far yielded much progress except a slight reduction in the spine curvature which meant he could sit up straight. Eventually his hope of a cure began to fade.
Abu Ali defies with optimism the doctors’ words about him not being able to walk again. He says “I give more importance to my work wishing to forget my disease and handicap and I also ignore the doctors’ expectations that I would not be able to carry on working, surprising my colleagues and managers”. According to the doctors the disease causes inflammation of the muscles and veins leading to atrophy thereby restricting movement. Medicine has no effective treatment yet and doctors assert that the cause of the illness is still unknown with hereditary causes probably being one of the main reasons.
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