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PETALING JAYA: He is known as the “loneliest man” at St Vincent Hospital in Sydney, a place where many people experience the worst moments of their lives.
In the six months that 34-year-old Malaysian construction engineer Khaidir Abu Jalil has been hospitalized for a rare autoimmune disease with a 50% survival rate, he has not had a single visit.
According to a report by Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), he doesn’t know anyone, not even a friend of a friend.
“We were surprised that he is only 34 years old, the prognosis was very bad, he was so ill and, in intensive care, there was not a single visitor who could be with him,” said Dr. Laila Girgis, head of rheumatology at the Public Hospital of St. Vincent of Sydney. said the newspaper.
He said allied doctors and health professionals were concerned that his isolation would impede his recovery, adding that they had not treated anyone so sick and alone for so long.
Due to Covid-19, St Vincent’s has had to support a greater number of people stranded in Sydney, sick and in need of help, many of them without access to Medicare.
The report says that since February, Khaidir’s body has dropped to 42 kg, more than half his weight a few months earlier. Its temperature rises above 40 degrees Celsius a day.
“His hands and elbows were covered with necrotizing skin lesions, called Gottron’s papules, causing black, painful sores on his hands and elbows that ulcerated. His lungs deteriorated rapidly. He crashed in the intensive care unit and was resuscitated, more than once, ”the newspaper reported.
He said that when he arrived from a rural hospital, he was seriously ill and “looked horrible, according to Dr. Girgis.
Khaidir told SMH that amid a pandemic, which prevented family or friends from traveling to be with him, he had lost his job as a construction engineer in Melbourne, his visa status was uncertain, and he was left homeless after his contract will end in a flat in Victoria.
He came to Australia to earn money to support his family in Malaysia, he told the newspaper.
When Khaidir arrived at the St. Vincent Public Hospital in July, he had not received a diagnosis since he first fell ill in February. Doctors feared he might have an infectious disease, according to the report.
Working with other experts at the hospital, Dr. Girgis diagnosed that Khaidir had a rare autoimmune disease, called dermatomyositis. “He had low oxygen levels, could not breathe and had to be intubated in the ICU,” he added.
The report said dermatomyositis is rare, but Khaidir also tried a worse variant. He tested positive for antibodies to MDA5, which quickly heals the lungs. It reduced the risk of their survival to about 50% in six months.
The newspaper said that almost six months after his admission, he is recovering and the staff are optimistic.
“During his time in St Vincent, he would cry and get sad. However, he never complained, which impressed the staff who dealt with him. Doctors, who were the same age as their patient, said they were surprised by his appearance, only for Khaidir to assure them that he was a fighter, according to the report.
When she doesn’t want to face the world, she covers her head with a blanket, Amanda McLaughlin, a consultant clinical nurse, told the newspaper.
It has been close to him for nearly 40 plasmaphereses, during which the blood washes away and lasts for several hours.
“Even when he was very ill and had to tell his mother in Malaysia to prepare for the worst, Dr. Girgis heard him say that he was receiving the best care,” the report says.
“The second time in intensive care, and we said it was critical, her mother cried when I spoke to her on her next door neighbor’s phone,” the report quoted Dr. Girgi as saying. “But I was very impressed that even [then], he was reassuring his parents. “
When he arrived in Melbourne for work last year, Khaidir said he had a very healthy life: he exercised, went to the gym and played golf.
The report said he was a “quiet and reserved person” who did not have many friends.
When asked by the journalist how he was doing when he was alone, Khaidir responded by taking selfies of himself in his sickest moment.
“I don’t want to go like this again. To motivate [myself], I just look at the photo of me before. I just want one life. I saw my photo … I was very sick, very skinny, “he told the newspaper.
“Khaidir deteriorated further when his rapidly deteriorating lung disease caused” white lungs, “McLaughlin told the newspaper.
According to the report, due to the immunosuppressive drugs he was taking, he contracted a fungal infection that caused lung abscesses.
“When they did the plasma exchange, it made a remarkable difference. The chest was quite clear, “he added.
