On August 2, 2018, Nora, 30, traveled with her sister and several friends to the Al-Thawra Hospital in Al-Hudaydah, Yemen, to visit a relative. Just as their bus arrived at the hospital’s entrance, a missile landed in front of them and exploded. Al-Hudaydah has been the site of major fighting during the war in Yemen, and a new airstrike was underway.
“I crawled out of the bus and called to my sister and friends but there was no reply,” says Nora. “Then I saw my sister, who was pregnant. She was dying.”
“As I looked at my sister, I heard a familiar sound. As others around me recognized the whistle of a fighter plane, they started screaming: ‘Run! They’re going to drop another bomb.’”
A second missile landed, and the explosion sent shrapnel flying. “I saw one person who was hit in the head and chest, and another whose face was ripped to shreds,” says Nora. “I was so shocked I didn’t realize that I had been hit too. My right leg had been torn off in the first explosion."
Amputation
Nora had what was left of her leg amputated at Al-Thawrah Hospital. She was then transferred to the hospital in Sana'a, where Humanity & Inclusion works, and underwent a second surgery.
After Nora’s operation, HI’s team immediately stepped in to begin physical rehabilitation and mental health counseling.
"We teach her how to manage her pain and practice strengthening exercises so that she can eventually walk with a prosthesis,” says HI Physical Therapist Feida. “We also massage her scar to keep the skin and muscles flexible to avoid the development of sores that might make wearing a prosthesis painful. One of our psychologists is helping her to overcome the trauma caused by the explosion, her amputation, and the death of her sister. With a little more time and effort, Nora should be ready to receive her new leg soon.”