80% burns, 3-month coma: UAE expat's miraculous recovery after fire incident

With 80 per cent of his body covered in burns, completely deaf in both ears and coming out of a three-month coma, Thwayib Hamza had never imagined a day when he would be able to return to Dubai. However, the Indian expat has made a miraculous recovery from an accident that doctors predicted would leave him dead.

“On the way to the hospital, I thought I was going to die,” said Thwayib, recalling the incident that happened in 2019. “Once I reached there, I remember begging the doctors to give me anesthesia because the pain was so unbearable. The memories of the following few months are a blur to me."

He soon slipped into a three-month coma at Rashid Hospital.

Doctors warned Thwayib’s family that it was incredibly rare for a person suffering from 80 per cent of burns on three layers of the skin to survive. At the time of the accident, his wife was pregnant with the couple’s second child. “They asked my family to be prepared for the worst,” he said, speaking to Khaleej Times from his hometown in India. “I weighed 86kg when the accident happened. When I came out of the coma, I weighed just 40kg. I could not even lift an empty bottle of water.”

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The accident

Working as a driver at a farm in Al Dhaid, Thwayib had just returned from his annual vacation in India and had woken up before Fajr (early morning) prayers on that fateful day in October. “I was going for a bath and only had a towel around my waist,” he said. “I went into the kitchen and switched on the stove to make a cup of tea and the next thing I remember is a burst of flames that spread onto my body. I ran out screaming.”

His colleagues in the neighbouring rooms came out running and rushed him to the nearest Al Dhaid hospital. “There, doctors said they did not have the capability to treat me and said I needed to be moved to either Mafreq hospital or Rashid Hospital, both of which had specialised burn units. Two days later, I was shifted to Rashid Hospital where I slipped into a coma.”

Once he woke up from his coma, doctors performed a series of surgeries on him. “For weeks, they did surgeries on every part of my body and did skin grafts in as many areas as they could,” he said. A medical report seen by Khaleej Times notes that Thwayib underwent several sessions of debridement — removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue — followed by skin grafts.

He then developed other complications with his health. One day, he woke up and was not able to hear anything. “The doctors who examined me said that I had gone deaf in both ears,” he said.

The loss of hearing was caused by excessive antibiotics that were given to him during his coma in order to avoid any skin infection or bed sores — both of which are very common in burn victims.

Long road to recovery

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