A desperate Pakistani family anxiously awaiting a US visa for their ailing little girl is running out of time: Maria is just six-years-old but a rare genetic disease has left her frail body wracked with pain and stunted her growth.
Soon she will be unable to walk because her vertebrae are compressing her spinal cord.
A US hospital has offered to perform a surgery for free that could significantly improve the quality of Maria’s life, but the American Embassy in Islamabad has so far twice refused to give the family visas to travel to the United States, said the girl's father, Shahid Ullah speaking to The Associated Press by phone from Rawalpindi in Pakistan.
When he submitted a visa application again, he was told it will "take time," he said.
Frustrated and frightened, Ullah has now turned to an American lawyer, Facebook and the media for help, starting a campaign he says could be his daughter’s last resort.
A Different Case
The surgery in the US has been scheduled for 2 November and Ullah is pleading with anyone who will listen that Maria's "case is different."
"If we delay Maria's surgery, there will be too many problems," said Ullah, who runs a small store selling blankets in the town of Rawalpindi, near the capital of Islamabad. He said Maria has to be in the United States by next Wednesday for pre-surgery tests.
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He said he embarked on the tortuous quest to find help for Maria nearly four years ago, researching her condition, sending her blood and urine samples to laboratories in India and Germany, connected with families of children with the same disorder, known as Morquio Syndrome.
Through the internet, he tracked down doctors with expertise in Maria’s condition and was steered to the Nemours/Alfred I DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. The Nemours Foundation said it would cover the full cost of the procedure.
Families with children like Maria also rallied behind Ullah and began crowd funding on Facebook https://mobile.facebook.com/maria.shahid.7330?ref=bookmarks .
Unlike in previous attempts to get a US visa, when Ullah had applied for the entire family and was told that US authorities feared they would not return to Pakistan, this time he said he only applied for a visa for Maria, himself and his wife.
US Embassy spokeswoman Fleur S Cowan declined to comment on Maria's case, citing privacy laws, but said she would look into the matter.
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