Post-surgery, Nagpur youth can breathe, eat after 2 years

Mumbai: Over two years ago, a young boy met with a serious accident after his motorcycle crashed into a truck carrying bamboo, critically injuring him and fighting for life.

A bamboo dislodged from the truck and pierced through the neck of the 18-year-old Tauhid Khan, son of a labourer, damaging his wind-pipe and food-pipe, so Tauhid could not breathe, swallow or eat, with life becoming an unending struggle.

After doing the rounds of several hospitals across the state, he somehow reached Mumbai’s Zen Multi-Speciality Hospital, Chembur and was taken under the charge of a team comprising Dr. Roy Patankar, Dr. Tanveer Majid, Dr. Pramod Kale and Dr. Vikas Nair.

The multiple failed treatments resulted in severe life-threatening complications, his weight dropped from 60 kgs to 33 kgs, his lungs got badly infected due to saliva accumulation and leakage, etc.

Food-pipe punctured

The crash had punctured Tauhid’s esophagus (food-pipe), which led to an infection (empyema) in the right lung, and an earlier team performed surgery to close the food-pipe and even inserted an endoscopic stent to prevent leakages.

Things turned critical when an abnormal connection formed between the food-pipe and windpipe, saliva leaked into the lungs, he couldn’t breathe normally and coughed relentlessly.

Despite placing a chest-tube, there was no improvement and for a year (2023) forcing Tauhid to keep a spittoon (plastic cup) to collect saliva from the mouth as he couldn’t swallow it.

His family brought him to the Zen MSH in Oct. 2024 in dire straits, dangerously low weight, severe sepsis infection throughout the body, extremely poor lung condition and weakness – he could barely walk a few steps.

Dr. Patankar explained that there were major problems affecting Tauhid’s health, so they placed a feeding tube in his small intestine (jejunostomy) to boost his nutrition, and in six months, his weight increased from 33 kgs to 40 kgs.

Tauhid was readied for the surgery by March and earlier this month, he was wheeled into the operation theatre for a complex 8-hour surgery to successfully repair the holes in the food-pipe and wind-pipe, the doctors carefully closed the openings in the trachea and esophagus.

The doctors also detached a large neck muscle called sternocleidomastoid, placed it be between the food-pipe and wind-pipe and it will act as a protective barrier to prevent future infections, and the technique is known as ‘muscular flap procedure’, while preserving all the major blood vessels in the neck.

“After the surgery two weeks ago, Tauhid was put on a ventilator to stabilize. He is now discharged as he is able to eat food normally, later the feeding tube in the intestine will be removed and he will begin consuming solid foods too, plus gain weight,” said Dr. Patankar, on the entire surgery performed free of cost for the patient hailing from an economically weak background.

A delighted Naseem Khan recalled how his son Tauhid would cry as he could not eat, and all felt tense but helpless, but finally the family’s perseverance and the medical team’s dedication paid off.

“The medical team of Dr. Patankar, Dr. Majid, Dr. Kale, Dr. Nair and others have given Tauhid the gift of a new life.  We cannot thank them enough and it’s the greatest happiness for us, after witnessing his trauma for over two years,” said Naseem Khan.

A smiling Tauhid, now 20, said he was scheduled to write his crucial HSC exams in Feb. 2023 - just two months after the devastating road-crash, but he had to take a drop.

“I was on the verge of giving up but the Zen MSH doctors supported and also fought for me… Now, I can speak, eat, walk, am regaining my strength and look forward to enjoying life to the fullest,” said Tauhid, raring to resume his college education.