A hopeful update on Youssif, the little boy who was disfigured but miraculously survived when masked men in his home city of Baghdad grabbed him doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.
We are extremely happy to report that he is in the US and has had his first meeting with Dr. Peter Grossman, the plastic surgeon who specializes in treating child burn victims and who will work to reconstruct the burned areas of Youssif's face and body throughout each of the 8 to 10 operations he will undergo.
The operations may begin as soon as next week.
Grossman will cut away scar tissue around his nose and put temporary skin from a cadaver over it. "We're also going to stick a balloon underneath the good skin under his neck and on his face," the doctor said. "The purpose of that is over time we will stretch the good skin, so that in about three months he will be able to go back to surgery, remove the scar tissue and pull up the stretched out good tissues."
"I'm emotionally exhausted," Youssif's dad said. "We went from death to a new life."
We are very proud of and cheering for Youssif, his doctors and his whole family right now as they go forward in this amazing endeavor. In the face of great danger, this family has shown tremendous courage stemming from the one thing that outshines war and violence - love. We support them and will continue to update on Youssif's progress.
PS. To contribute to Youssif's fund, click here.
3 comments:
Good to hear he's doing well. Hopefully he will emotionally recover from this as well.
As far as the men who did this to him... I'm not a religious man, but I seriously hope there is a special hell for them.
"Miraculously" survived...?!
....um, sure.
That said, what bravery this little boy must have.
Surviving being set on fire when doused with gasoline would be considered 'miraculous', no? Miraculous as in "2. of the nature of a miracle; marvelous." Certainly surviving against heavy odds of being doused in gasoline and set on fire at such a young age is nothing if not the above. Perhaps a lesson in English would be helpful for your future comments on months old news.
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