8 year old Areesha came to the Paediatric Surgery clinic at The Indus Hospital in February 2008 from Hyderabad. She had a history of being unable to swallow any kind of liquids or solids since birth. Immediately after attempting to eat or drink, she would regurgitate everything out. She had been diagnosed to have achalasia cardia (narrowing of the lower end of the oesophagus) as an infant but surgery had been deferred by doctors. She had a nasogastric tube in place, through which she had been receiving pureed foods all her life.

After confirming her diagnosis with a barium swallow, she was scheduled for surgery at The Indus Hospital on February 24, 2008. Dr. Mohsin Ali (senior paediatric surgeon) and Dr. Saeeda Haider (senior anaesthetist) donated their time to help perform this surgery with Dr. Lubna Samad and Dr. Akhtar Aziz (full time paediatric surgeon and anaesthetist at The Indus Hospital). A Heller myotomy was performed successfully. On the third postoperative day, Areesha drank water for the first time without vomiting it out! Her joy had to be seen to be believed. She is now back home, eating and drinking like a normal child.