My brother has been suffering from Guillain-Barré for 8 months. He was admitted to the ICU and has been through a precarious journey medically and emotionally. He is temporarily paralyzed and since his illness started, he only recently recovered some of his muscles-neck to the abdomen. He cannot move his limbs nor speak unaided. He has a trachea and a feeding tube and recently had a colostomy. A prisoner in his own body.

Given that he had not been outside four walls, nor breathed any air outside his room, I urged the ICU team to grant him 5 minutes in the sun. This proved to be an impossible mission and something that is not done in the ICU!

Thanks to the perseverance and understanding of the nurse in charge, Isabelle Alam and Abdallah Wardany, and after making all the necessary calls with convincing arguments, the ICU doctor and the hospital management granted the permission. I had to sign that this was at my own risk, and I did. What happened was a remarkable experience! Guided by a team of nurses, doctors, inhalation specialists, assistants, and caretakers, a group of 10-12 staff members, Isabelle and Abdallah, took my brother out on a stretcher. Stepping out of the entrance door into the hospital garden was a liberating moment for my brother and a collective joy for all of us watching this moment! The first thing he did was turn his gaze to the sky- a view he had not seen for eight months! Everyone cheered him on, and he smiled for the first time in a long time. He was very thankful and hopeful that his next outing would be to hopefully go home.

Thanks to the relentless efforts of Abdallah Wardany together with Isabelle Alam and their intimate knowledge of my brother’s case, they showed incredible empathy and support to give him an opportunity that he will remember forever, and that certainly contributes to his overall well-being.