Garden City Surgeon Helps Afghani Girl Shot by Taliban

Posted by Carisa Giardino (Editor), December 21, 2012 at 07:34 pm

County Executive Mangano; Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh; Major Chuck Kilbride and Grandson Patrick; Sgt. Gomez; and Marzieh.

A six-year-old Afghani girl can breathe again thanks, in part, to a Garden City surgeon who performed a two-hour procedure Friday free of charge, county executive Ed Mangano announced Friday.

Marzieh was shot in the face over a year ago by Taliban insurgents after being forced to witness the execution of her father and her 3-year-old brother. She was "resting comfortably" and is expected to be released from South Nassau Communities Hospital Saturday, according to Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, Marzieh's lead surgeon and president of the Long Island Plastic Surgical Group in Garden City.

The county executive presented Marzieh with a big teddy bear and wished her a speedy recovery prior to the surgery and honored Dr. Alizadeh; the hospital; Mission Restore and the Global Relief Fund for all of their efforts on behalf of the little girl.

"Everything went beautifully," said Dr. Alizadeh, who is a founder of Mission Restore, an organization that aids children injured in war-torn countries.

Dr. Alizadeh said surgeons repaired tissue in her nose that had been scared by bullets from Taliban rifles. "Her nose was completely scared," Dr. Alizadeh said, adding that doctors grafted skin from both of Marzieh's ears to cover the scaring in her nose and smoothed out a wound on her left cheek that had been damaged by a bullet.

Marzieh was brought to the United States through the efforts of the Global Medical Relief Fund of Staten Island, Mangano said.

The United States Marines was also on hand to provide toys for the young girl through the Toys for Tots Program, according to the county executive.

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