Gallery | Pakistan Stroke Initiative

In Their Words

Patient Stories

Real patients, treated free of cost by Pakistan Stroke Initiative physicians — shared with their permission.

Zareena — “We were treated completely free of cost”

Zareena suffered a brain hemorrhage. Her family could not afford the treatment she needed — until PSI's Dr. Fazal Zaidi and the team at Farooq Hospital treated her, free of charge. Here she and her son tell the story in their own words (English subtitles).

Angiogram showing the ruptured brain aneurysm before treatment

BEFORE · the aneurysm

Angiogram after treatment, magnified on the sealed aneurysm

AFTER · sealed (magnified)

Inset: the SEAL device placed inside the aneurysm — no open surgery.

The First Brain Aneurysm Treated at JPMC

She had bled from a ruptured brain aneurysm four months earlier. In America she would have been treated within 24 hours; she waited four months because no public hospital in Pakistan could treat it. In 2026 the JPMC team sealed the aneurysm from the inside with a single SEAL device — a device that costs about $15,000 — with no open surgery. Cost to her: $0.

See the JPMC stroke center →

Impact