Page 26 - University Health Network 2017-18 Year In Review

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Social @ UHN A story of hope: helping Popi taste and

eat for the first time in eight years

In the past year, people
discovered UHN News A crack team of surgeons and clinicians at UHN have in a windowless, dark corner of an Acid Survival
stories more than 50,000 given Popi Rani Das the ability to breathe normally, Foundation Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
times through social media. taste, eat and drink for the first time in eight years,
11,660 20,646 19,055 offering her hope for a better life when she returns to Dr. Toni Zhong, Director of the Breast Reconstruction
Program at UHN, chanced upon Popi while on
Bangladesh.
Link Clicks Link Clicks Link Clicks a humanitarian mission to treat burn victims in
The 29-year-old woman was left for dead eight years Bangladesh.
ago after she drank clear, odourless acid in a cup given “She was a shadow of a person, thinking that
University Health Network to her by her then-husband who claimed her dowry nobody could help her,” recalls Dr. Zhong, who is
@UHN was too meagre. Defying the odds, Popi survived, also the Belinda Stronach Chair of the UHN Breast
although with a severely damaged airway, throat,
Oncology nurse Elena Gomez is rocking the world of her esophagus (gullet or food pipe) and stomach. Reconstruction Program.
patients by painting beautiful designs and inspirational “I knew if I did not do anything then and there, then
messages on stones she finds herself from various Lake She had 10 corrective surgeries performed by doctors nobody would. And I also knew that I had strong
Popular Ontario beaches. https://bit.ly/2BJdF6L in Bangladesh, with little improvement. teams back at UHN who could help.”
in December Relying on a feeding tube inserted into her stomach

for sustenance, and on her mother for company, Link to full story: click here.
she subsisted, barely breathing, for seven years,

104 Likes Other UHN News headlines

New Medical Director charts fresh course
for Krembil Neuroscience Centre

24 Shares Krembil patient learns to walk again after
emergency spine surgery

The ultimate transformer

Other UHN News headlines

• UHN research develops insulin-producing cells; next stop clinical trials Popi, centre foreground, with some members of her healthcare team
(from left to right): UHN translator Tannazzum Kaiser, surgical lead
• Artificial intelligence launches new era in cardiac care Dr. Ralph Gilbert, speech-language pathologist Elana Aziza, and social
worker Shobha Sawh. (Photo: UHN)
• After 42 years, Barb Tiano saying goodbye

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26 University Health Network Year in Review 2017 – 18 27