Tragic Pool Incident Leaves Young Girl Needing 5 Organs Replaced
Salma Bashir jumped into a swimming pool for some fun when a horrific accident struck.
The teenager accidentally sat on a pool’s suction valve causing injuries so severe she needs five organs replaced, as she explained to Barcroft TV.
"I don't technically need to eat but yet somehow I get the sensation that I'm hungry."
Salma was then five years old when the traumatic incident occurred while they were on holiday in Alexandria, Egypt. Salma, now 16 years old, recalled:
“I was just swimming all of a sudden, I just sat on it by accident. I know the lifeguard tried to pull me out and he couldn't because the suction was so much.”
She lost her intestines and gallbladder. Her stomach is also an open wound that needs to be dressed daily.
NOT YOUR ORDINARY KID
Living in Pittsburgh with her mother and two younger brothers, Salma still chews food at home but would wrap her chewed mouthfuls in tissue and throw it away in a plastic bag at her feet. She said:
“I am not the kid who goes, "Oh my God, ice-cream!" I love savory stuff, I like meat, I like seafood, I don't always have seafood but I love seafood! I don't technically need to eat but yet somehow I get the sensation that I'm hungry. Maybe it's a brain thing; maybe it's a mind thing. I have no idea. It would be awesome to swallow the food again.”
Doctors have advised that Salma need to have five organs replaced: Her small intestines, large intestines, liver, stomach, and pancreas. The five-organ transplant would cost $3 million, and there is no guarantee that it would be successful.
Salma and her family are now raising money through a GoFundMe account. Dena Ghaly, her mother, said of the optimistic teenager:
“She still smiles, she's still [a] fighter, she still challenges with her situation. She's doing very good things with her condition.”
ANOTHER TRAGIC ACCIDENT
Children meeting tragic accidents while playing are not uncommon.
In Norfolk, United Kingdom, a young girl was playing on a bouncy castle at a beach when it exploded and killed her.
The tragedy saw the girl being thrown 20 feet into the air when the bouncy castle exploded.
It was believed that the bouncy castle exploded because of the extreme heat.