Almas Abdilda was born with spina bifida, a congenital condition, whereby a baby's spine and spinal cord does not develop properly in the womb, causing a gap in the spine. The boy has been struggling with this diagnosis his whole life and has already undergone two surgeries in his native Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, this did not enable him to walk on his own. 

The boy’s mother, Elmira, wrote to us: “When Almas was born, I instantly realised something was wrong from the doctor’s reaction. He was diagnosed with spina bifida and it was very hard to come to terms with the knowledge that he will likely become disabled, unless operated. At 3.5 months old, Almas underwent his first surgery. Sadly, in Kazakhstan this procedure is rarely successful, and we were no exception. 

At the age of 1, Almas began to stand up and walk, and it was then that we noticed him limping. It turned out that one leg was shorter than the other by one centimetre. By 9, our boy was in severe pain and in need of another surgical operation. We were very hopeful that this treatment would at least relieve his pain, but the reality turned out much worse than our expectations. After the second surgery, Almas’s leg muscles got so weak that he can no longer walk on his own and can only crawl on his knees like an infant. 

We are not willing to accept this fate, and so we have reached out to Shimon Rokhkind, an operating neurosurgeon who specialises, amongst other things, in spine surgery. Following the consultation, professor Rokhkind is confident that an urgent surgical intervention will give Almas the opportunity to walk on his own again. Once again, we have hope for our child’s future. “

Dear friends, our foundation has responded to help Almas raise part of the total cost of treatment. Thanks to your help and support, the boy underwent the treatment he needed. On August 31, 2022, Dr. Shimon Rohkind performed an operation. It lasted 7 hours and was successful. We thank everyone who helped us change the boy's life for the better!