Doctors at Children's Hospital have saved the life of a girl from Afghanistan. Now the family is receiving threats from the Taliban for bringing her here.
The girl is just two years old. She's been here for months undergoing surgeries. Only now is her family comfortable telling their story to Local 12's Shawn Ley.
Her name is Nazia - she almost died after swallowing a battery the size of a penny, But once you see the size of her spirit, you'll understand why everyone here is in love with her.
This beautiful little girl barely has a voice. She's starting to speak and eat again, after almost dying from swallowing a watch battery.
Ravi Elluru, MD/Cincinnati Children's Hospital: "She's had a lot of angels, she's very lucky."
Dr. Ravi Elluru has been working to save the little girl's life. Battery chemicals were eating holes in her airway and esophagus. With no doctors in her village to treat her, U.S. forces were nearby. Army surgeons helped stabilize the girl, but she needed reconstructive surgery. A member of the military knew one of our nation's best surgeons for that procedure.. Dr. Elluru. The doctor and soldier had another friend who donated his frequent flyer miles to bring Nazia here.
Dr. Elluru: "If she hadn't found those friends, those angels she would have had a very rocky life, a very short life."
But her life isn't about to get any easier. Through an interpreter, Nazia's brother says his family is being threatened by the Taliban for bringing her to the U.S. Interpreter: "When he spoke to his father he said when you come back the Taliban have told me they are going to kill you. Plain and simple, they're going to kill you. They ask why did you take this girl to America?"
Little Nazia's life has been saved, but her future after leaving here is more at risk than ever.
