Roona Begum, Toddler With Swollen Head Recovers After Series Surgery

Before and after of Roona

A toddler whose rare disorder caused her head to swell to nearly three times its normal size is recovering after her latest round of life-saving surgery.

Roona Begum was born with hydrocephalus, which results in a build-up of fluid in her swollen skull.
Surgeons believe the weight of water on her brain amounted to HALF her total weight.

Heartbreaking pictures of the 18-month-old girl in The Sun prompted readers to donate thousands of pounds to help her as her parents were too poor to pay for treatment.


Speaking from the operating theatre at a New Delhi hospital in India, surgeon Sandeep Vaishya said: "The surgery went perfectly, much better than expected.

Condition; Roona was born with hydrocephalus, which results in severe water on the brain

"It's definitely a success but it's too early to say what the quality of her future life will be like.”

Roona's swollen head had put pressure on her brain and made it impossible for her to sit upright or crawl.

She faced a slow death as her dad Abdul, who earns less than £2 a day in a brick factory, could not afford her treatment.

But after pictures were taken of the girl in her village in the remote north eastern state of Tripura, a hospital run by the private Fortis Healthcare group offered to treat Roona for free.

surgeons believe the weight of water on her brain amounted to half her total weight

So far, doctors have reduced the swelling by over a third from 37ins to 23.6ins by draining fluid from her skull into an external plastic bag, allowing them to perform hour-long surgery.

The operation involved inserting of a shunt to drain the fluid out of her head and towards her abdomen where it can be absorbed easily into the blood stream.

Roona after her first operation to drain her skull earlier this month

Little Roona will still need "extensive physiotherapy" to allow her to lead a fully functional life.

Vaishya added: "Her neck muscles are very under-developed, so she will need more nutrition and extensive physiotherapy to make her stronger.

“Her body will have to grow strong so she can learn to sit up and move about and live a normal life."

Dad Abdul, 26, said he had prayed constantly for a "miracle" to save his little girl.

Roona with her dad Abdul before surgery

He added: "The day she was born, then itself the doctor said there were no guarantees she would survive.
“I figured we would do our best for as long as we could and Allah would help us with the rest."


Two Norwegian college students, Jonas Borchgrevink and Nathalie Krantz, saw Roona's photographs and started an online campaign that raised over £34,000 to help her family and fund any future aftercare treatment.