Browse Sections

• Education
• Business
• Blog
• Special reports

Father's last farewell

1/12/2002

A ROCHDALE father has paid tribute to medical staff who arranged an emergency flight from Pakistan so he could see his daughter before she died.

When Munawar Malik got to the bedside of daughter Samara he was faced with the heartbreaking task of turning off the 10-year-old's life support machine. Child specialists explained to the stricken father that the machine was the only thing keeping his daughter's body functioning after she suffered a massive brain haemorrhage

Samara, a pupil at Smithybridge Primary Schoo,l was struck down when her father was on a visit to Pakistan. It looked as if she would pass away before her dad could set eyes on her again. But staff at Pendlebury Children's Hospital went into action.

They rang Pakistan International Airlines and got Munawar on an emergency flight. They then contacted officials at Manchester Airport to make sure the desperate father was rushed through customs. Relatives were waiting at the airport and he was driven to Samara's bedside in the hospital's intensive care unit.

He then spent 30 minutes with his daughter. But doctors took him to one side explaining that Samara's brain was 'dead' and that her body was only working because of the machine. Having been comforted by relatives Munawar made the anguished decision to switch-off.

Speaking on behalf of the family Samara's uncle, community worker Ghulam Shazad, said Munawar was overcome with grief when he was told by doctors that his permission was needed to switch the life support machine off.

He said: "It was a very tormenting moment. Samara's dad was emotionally wrecked. We didn't know how to explain to him that he had to let his daughter go. But the surgeons spoke to him, explaining to him what has happened and making him understand that it was necessary to switch the machine off. Munawar finally gave permission but what he must have gone through I cannot even imagine."

Samara's tragic ordeal started while she was getting ready to go to school. She complained of pains in her head. She said she felt 'heavy' and that her hands became tight fists. An ambulance was called and Samara, who was loosing consciousness, was taken to Rochdale Infirmary.

It was discovered that she was suffering from a brain haemorrhage and she was transferred to Pendlebury for an emergency operation to remove a blood clot. Unfortunately the blood had spread throughout the back of Samara's head and her family was told there was nothing the surgeons could do.

Said Mr Shazad: "Munawar and the whole family would like to thank all the doctors and nurses. They were so kind and worked so hard to save Samara and then make sure her dad got back to say his last goodbye. In particular I can never forget what a nurse called Jo did for us. Her own son was at home and yet because she cared she stayed with Samara for eight hours after her shift. It was this caring nature of the staff that touched our hearts and eased our pain.

"In the end there was nothing anybody could do. The surgeons had done their best to save Samara but the damage was far too severe. In the end all the tubes were taken from her little body and I said a prayer from the Quran as she went to sleep forever."