No More Victims - News Archive

The two girls had never met before last weekend, but they already had a special connection.One is a 12-year-old Iraqi who lost her legs during an American airstrike. The other is a 15-year-old Carmel High School student.

Three years ago, Salee Allawi was playing outside her home in Fallujah, Iraq, when a missile hit. The explosion killed her brother and injured her legs so seriously that they were amputated below the knees.

On Sept. 19, Salee traveled with her father, Hussein Feras, from Los Angeles — where she is spending the month to break in her new prosthetic legs — to the Peninsula to meet Lexi Mooneyham, a Carmel Valley girl who raised $600 to help pay for Salee’s travels to the United States.

“Meeting her was like a dream come true,” Lexi said. “It was reassuring to know that all those efforts I was doing were going to a great cause, that I helped someone and to see the effects of that.”

(more…)

Bear hugs and welcoming smiles greeted Salee Allawe when she returned to Shriners Hospital for Children on Wednesday, two years after traveling to Greenville from Iraq to be fitted with prosthetic legs.

The Iraqi girl lost both legs in a missile strike, according to No More Victims, the group that arranged her trip. She captivated Greenville in 2007 with her courage and determination as she underwent surgery, then was fitted for the legs that let her walk and play again.

She was scheduled to return 12 to 18 months later for new legs to accommodate her growth, but No More Victims instead arranged for her treatment near its Los Angeles headquarters.

But because Salee and her father, Hussein, preferred the care they received in Greenville and felt at home here, local volunteers raised money to pay for their return visit, said Ann Miller, the group’s national community coordinator.

“The care (in Los Angeles) was good, but they’re just so much more comfortable with the team in Greenville,” Miller said. “They are so excited to be coming back.”  (more…)