Infant's Hope For sight Blind and deaf Israeli baby may gain eyesight after surgeries in Detroit. SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN Staff Writer INT hen 8-month-old Sarah Shira Abramov arrived in the United States July 10, she was due for some good news from her American doctor. The Israeli infant was born 14 weeks early, weigh- ing just one pound, with no apparent hearing or sight. She had spent the first six months of her life hospital- ized. Her blindness is caused by retinopathy of prematurity, a disease of the eye occurring in most babies born before the 28th week of gestation, weighing less than two pounds. When her Israeli ophthalmologist, Dr. Claudette Keroub, found that laser surgery, the usual method of restoring some vision, was unsuccessful because of the late stage of the disease, she turned to her friend and colleague Dr. Lawrence Lowenthal of Southfield — an ophthalmologist who is licensed in both .Israel and the U.S. Because of the high success rate of the laser proce- dure, very few specialists have been trained to perform the conventional eye surgery that would be Sarah Shira's only hope of sight — and then only in the eye with lesser damage. The other eye was thought to be too damaged for any surgery to be successful. Dr. Claudette Keroub and Shirley Lowenthal coax a smile from Sarah Shira Abramov. TN 7/19 2002 12 With no Israeli doctors trained to perform the surgery, Dr. Keroub hoped Dr. Lowenthal could help locate one in the U.S. She knew of Dr. Lowenthal's and wife Shirley's longtime involvement in projects that bring eye care to patients in such countries as Romania, Russia and Ukraine, with ophthalmologists including Dr. Jay Novetsky of Southfield. After some research, Dr. Lowenthal discovered that one of the few doctors worldwide trained to perform the procedure is Dr. Michael Trese, chief of pediatric and adult vitreoretinal surgery at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Dr. Trese arranged to examine Sarah Shira the day after she arrived in the U.S. with her father Abraham Abramov and Dr. Keroub. Dr. Trese told them that not only would he per- form the surgery, but that he also saw promising results for sight improvement in Sarah Shira's other eye, even though the damage was of a greater, extent. Surgery on one eye took place July 12, with surgery on the second eye taking place July 15. Dr. Keroub was present during both surgeries. "This is Dr. Keroub's whole life — tzedakah," Shirley Lowenthal says of the Egyptian-born, French-trained, Israeli physician. "When she found out the baby could have surgery here, she dropped everything and came with her." Even though the extent of sight impairment was different in each of Sarah Shira's eyes, her chances of regaining sight are the same for both. "There's a 50 percent chance of sight in each eye, with 20- 200 vision," Shirley Lowenthal says. Although Sarah Shira probably will not gain enough sight to read, the prospect that she will be able to identify objects will be life-altering, espe- cially because of her hearing impairment. Now She Smiles While Sarah Shira was born in Israel, her parents made aliyah from Baku, Azerbaijan, nine years ago. Her sisters, ages 4 and 8, are now healthy, but both were also born premature like Sarah Shira. The girls' mother, who is in end-stage renal failure, undergoes regular dialysis treatments and was unable to travel to Detroit with her baby and husband. The family lives in Nazareth Illit — a city in Detroit's Partnership 2000 region. When Tanya Mazor-Posner, associate director of Israel and Overseas Department at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit in Bloomfield Township, heard the family would be journeying to Detroit, she offered helped. She arranged for transportation for Sarah Shira and her father, as the Lowenthals who are hosting them are Shabbat observant and do not drive on Shabbat when the hospital visits were scheduled. The Lowenthals have seen improvement in Sarah Shira in the short time since she arrived. At 8 months, the baby weighs only 11 pounds and is unable to turn over. "When she came here, she was lying completely limp," Shirley- Lowenthal says. "And she has scars on her legs from all the intravenous lines." Attempts by Lowenthal and Dr. Keroub at motivating and rousing the baby have been suc- ces s ful. "I sing to her with my mouth on her head, behind her ear, and it calms her," Lowenthal says. "I'm trying to teach her father to do it, too," she says of a not-so-simple task because he speaks no English. "She will need a lot of teaching and stimulation," she says. "I have been doing lots of exercises with her and she has started to really thrive. She is mov- ing her arms and legs more, has even begun to laugh and giggle when I work with her on turning over. She is smiling for the first time ever." With the introduction of baby food into her diet here, her face has filled out. While it was first thought Sarah Shira had no hearing, her doctors are now hopeful that hearing aids can help.