Reference : V-P-IL-E-03327
Date : 26/08/2019
Country/Region : OCCUPIED TERRITORIES; GAZA; ISRAEL
Caption : Gaza, Khan Yunis. Family surrounding a 43 years old sick woman. She’s kept under surveillance due to her deteriorating health condition.
Photographer : ZAQOUT, Abed
Confidentiality level : public
Publication restrictions : publication without restrictions
Copyright : ICRC
Description : She suffers from acute pulmonary fibrosis. Her daughter died from the same illness at the age of 19 three years ago.
She is eagerly awaiting the Ministry of Health’s approval to travel abroad to have a transplant of two new lungs. Without the operation, she is not likely to live long.
Since she became sick, her family’s life has been turned upside down. They are frantically trying to keep her alive. She wipes the tears off her cheeks and says: “I’m not afraid of death. I fear for my children who would be alone after I’m gone. I want to stay with them. I don’t want them to be trapped by the same grief they experienced when my daughter died.”
Her husband, 51, is a construction worker whose life is devoted to supporting his wife. “Everything my husband makes, he spends on my treatment. I’m sick of this dire situation. I wish someone would lift this burden off his shoulders,” she says.
Every now and then, she slips into a coma. Her husband usually takes her to the hospital, where she stays for about a month in intensive care. When she gets better, he takes her home and a new chapter of suffering starts for the husband and the family of eight.
Resolution : 7360x4912
Orientation : landscape
Colour/B&W : colour

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