Yahya El Jabaly was born in a village in Morocco, about two hours from Casablanca, without eyes, with a hole where his nose should have been, and without an upper jaw.
A complication in the womb prevented the bones in his face from fusing. Doctors didn’t think he would survive the birth.
He survived, but couldn’t see or speak: he only grunted and screamed, although his brain was normal. When he went outside, he kept his head covered. His father, Mostafa, went from clinic to clinic, and several surgeons refused to operate on him.
Yahya’s photo made it to Facebook, where it was seen by Fatima Baraka, a Moroccan woman living in Melbourne who was battling breast cancer at the time.
She raised money, traveled to Morocco, and brought the boy and his family to Australia, where Professor Tony Holmes of the Royal Children’s Hospital was waiting for him.
Holmes spoke frankly in front of the cameras: “I think it’s everyone’s right to look human, and this child doesn’t”.
The surgery lasted about 18 hours: the team broke the bones in his face and repositioned them.
They made him a nose using excess skin and a new upper jaw. When his parents saw the result, they burst into tears. More surgeries on his eyes and nose still lay ahead.