Burn victim recovering from life-changing surgery

It has been four months now since 15-year-old Suzanne Aman arrived in Hendersonville to receive the medical attention she has needed for most of her life.

An oil lamp fell on Aman when she was seven months old and fire devastated much of her body.

She was left with scars she has had to carry throughout her life. Aman, who is from the Philippines, was not able to get the medical attention she needed in her home country.

Because of the lack of health care, doctors in the third-world country were not able to save her left hand. She also lost her left ear in the fire and cannot grow hair in the same area because her scalp is badly scarred. However, through an extensive partnership involving the Brevard Rotary Club, the Brevard Gift of Life Program, Pardee Hospital, area surgeons and a host of volunteers and donations, the teenager was able to get the care she needed locally.

Dr. William L. Overstreet, a plastic surgeon with Blue Ridge Plastic Surgery, and David C. Napoli, an orthopedic surgeon with Blue Ridge Bone and Joint, operated on Aman on Wednesday afternoon.

Aman and her mother, Marivic, arrived at Pardee Hospital on Wednesday morning so surgeons could perform several different procedures. For six hours, doctors worked to reconstruct her arm and to construct an ear from existing cartilage in her ribcage. They also worked on realigning Aman’s hairline behind the left ear.

There will probably be only one more surgery for Aman before she returns home, doctors said.

“(The surgeries are going) well. We are happy with the progress we are making,” Napoli said.

Much of the success is attributed to Aman’s ability to recuperate from the operations.

“She is a very good healer,” Overstreet said. “She has also gained a few pounds and is very healthy.”

Two days after her surgery, Aman was in good spirits as she recovered at Pardee with her mother at her side.

The teenager, wrapped in bandages, said she felt good as she rested in her hospital room Friday afternoon.

Aman passes the time by watching TV, including her favorite show, Hannah Montana, and going online using a laptop. There, she is able to e-mail friends and family and play games.

A teddy bear, named Pardee, sits comfortably by her side in the hospital bed.

Marivic, said she has a lot to be thankful for.

“I want to thank the Lord,” she said.

The day of her daughter’s surgery, she saw two enormous rainbows in the sky.

“It was a sign,” she added.

Maravic, 45, also expressed gratitude for the long list of contributors who have been involved with her daughter’s operations and well being.

Progress

Overstreet and Napoli said Wednesday’s operation was a success. Overstreet added that freeing up Aman’s arm, which was molded into what resembles a chicken wing in the fire, was a little more extensive than they anticipated because they had to perform more skin grafting.

Surgeons continued to reconstruct the deformity during Wednesday’s operation. There are multiple stages in the process.

After the fire, the skin on the side of her rib cage under her shoulder was fused with her left arm. Her left arm at the bend of her elbow was also webbed together. This restricted the arm’s movement. The arm was permanently bent and her hand was forced to rest at chest level. Overstreet had to cut through the web-like skin to free up her arm to allow movement. The pockets of skin that were cut out were replaced with skin from her thigh.

After Wednesday, she can move her left arm above her head for the first time in her life.

The second part of her operation was also the next stage in forming an ear out of cartilage extracted from her ribcage. Once the cartilage is shaped into an ear, surgeons will tuck it under the skin where her ear should be.

Overstreet put two balloon-like expanders under the skin on her scalp, and every week he would pump solution into the balloons to stretch out the skin, allowing space for her ear.

After the completion of the surgery, the young girl will finally be able wear earrings on her left ear. The second balloon expanded the skin so the doctors could pull her receded hairline back down to the area around her ear.

“The body is very adaptive,” Overstreet said.

The balloons will be removed and the “ear” and hairline will be put into place.

Overstreet said there will probably be only one more major operation to free up more of Aman’s arm and to complete the ear.

On that same arm, Aman’s hand was so badly burnt, tendons and bone melted into a tight ball. Next week, Aman will be fitted for an artificial hand. Within five weeks, surgeons are hoping to complete the surgeries.

Harry Lewis, president of the Rotary Club of Brevard, is amazed at Aman’s progress and tenacity through the entire ordeal.

All of the operations, therapy and rehabilitation sessions should be complete in about two months.

If you would like to help finance or volunteer your time, go to www.brevardrotary.org or contact Harry Lewis at 828-884-9502.