Paralyzed Polish walks again after surgery in Sharjah

  A Polish man who was paralysed after falling in a cruise ship is now able to walk again after UAE doctors performed complicated surgery on him at a hospital in Sharjah. Jaroslaw Pieczonka, a former army and police officer from Poland, was working as head of security for the cruise ship when he slipped in the bath. The ship was traveling in the Malta-Suez-Red Sea corridor in August of 2021 when it went through rough weather. The fall left the 57-year-old man with three fractures in his cervical spine. To make matters worse, it took nearly a week for the ship to reach the Fujairah port, the nearest point for Pieczonka to get hospital treatment. In Fujairah, Pieczonka was taken to the Sharq Hospital emergency room, before he was transferred to NMC Royal Hospital in Sharjah for further treatment. Dr. Bobby Jose, a clinical administrator and specialist, NeuroSurgery and Neurointerventionist, at NMC Royal Hospital, said the delay of nearly seven days further complicated Pieczonka’s condition. Pieczonka underwent advanced surgery and was rehabilitate for six months, staying in the hospital even after losing his job and running out of insurance coverage. The Polish Embassy stepped in to assist him, and on February 17, Pieczonka was able to fly back to Gdansk – not in a wheelchair, but on his own feet, straight up to his seat on the plane. Pieczonka expressed his heartfelt gratitude and love to the staff who assisted him all throughout his ordeal. "I am not familiar with Middle Eastern culture. However, when I saw all these people from different parts of the world of different faiths working together to help me heal, I realised God is one but with different names," he said. KMB/Expat Media
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