Iraqi boy can’t get new prosthetic leg

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Iraqi boy who came to Portland for a new leg won’t be getting one after all. Doctors now say 6-year-old Mustafa Abed’s injuries are too severe and he won’t be able to use a prosthetic leg.

Mustafa’s dreams of playing soccer may be gone but he is learning to love basketball and plays while guiding his wheelchair.

And he has a new friend, a Portland State University student from Palestine who was paralyzed from a sniper’s bullet. He also plays hoops from his wheelchair.

The group “No More Victims” brought Mustafa to Oregon with the help of donations.

Mustafa’s father is thrilled his son gets a second chance at childhood, even though he will not yet have the use of two legs.

“After all the things we had to go through, all the suffering, now we have time for joy and for play,” Mohammed Abed told KATU News.

Despite the bad news about the artificial leg, the boy’s trip here was not in vain. Doctors actually saved his life – he was much sicker than anyone thought when he arrived in Portland. NMV Editor’s Note: Mustafa’s injuries included the loss of a large section of colon, a neurogenic bladder, and complete loss of bowel control. He will never have children. Also ridden with kidney stones and a bladder stone the size of a large egg, one kidney failed and had to be removed. Doctors say he was within a few weeks of an extremely painful death.

Categorised in: Children

This post was written by Cole Miller