{"id":84690,"date":"2025-07-23T01:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84690\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T01:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:46:09","slug":"teen-receives-life-changing-care-at-childrens-hospital-of-philadelphia-for-rare-congenital-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84690\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen receives life-changing care at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for rare congenital condition"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 17-year-old from the Middle East is being celebrated by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for her bravery after she endured dozens of surgeries. <\/p>\n

July is Craniofacial Awareness Month, a time dedicated to educating people about congenital differences that impact thousands of children and families every year. <\/p>\n

Shaikha Salem was born in the United Arab Emirates with a rare congenital condition called Goldenhar Syndrome<\/a>, which causes severe facial asymmetry and breathing problems. <\/p>\n

She’s been around the world, from London to Asia, being treated, and finally ended up in Philadelphia at CHOP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’ve had 25 surgeries in total,” Salem said, “but by the age of 11, I had already 19 surgeries.”<\/p>\n

\"shaikha-salem.jpg<\/p>\n

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old will be back in August for another round of surgery. Salem had major jaw and airway reconstruction at CHOP in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n

“Actually, I’m excited because the result is going to be like a dream come true, so I’m happy,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jesse Taylor led the surgery that makes it easier for Salem to breathe, eat and speak.<\/p>\n

“I am really, really excited about this surgery because I feel like we have a good plan, and she’s such an amazing young woman,” Taylor said. “I feel lucky to be a part of her life.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now at age 17, Salem said she feels lucky to have found the team at CHOP that’s transforming her life.<\/p>\n

\"Shaikha<\/p>\n

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia<\/p>\n

“Every time I go in, even if I was, let’s say, in pain for any surgery, I would go in and I’d come back with a huge smile, knowing there is an end to all of this. After every long journey, there is always going to be a happy point,” she said.<\/p>\n

Salem said after all the medical interventions and surgeries she’s had, she’s considering a career in nursing.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Stahl<\/a><\/p>\n

Stephanie Stahl is an Emmy Award-winning health reporter. She can be seen daily on CBS News Philadelphia and Philly57.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 17-year-old from the Middle East is being celebrated by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for her bravery…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,37448,210,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-84690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-childrens-hospital-of-philadelphia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-pa","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114900027694563989","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}