Before he came to Pittsburgh two years ago, Abdul-Hakeem Khalaf didn’t like going to school. Now the Iraqi boy is first in his class.

Abdul-Hakeem, 10, was at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on Thursday for more surgery to repair the scarred left side of his face, disfigured when coalition forces shelled his Fallujah home on April 9, 2004.

(more…)

Abdul Hakeem, the 9-year-old Iraqi boy who has received medical care in Pittsburgh to repair facial injuries suffered in a U.S. bombardment of Fallujah four years ago, is getting another round of help from his friends here.

Winding up what is expected to be his final visit for care at Children’s Hospital — aided by Dr. Fred Deleyiannis, the hospital and the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation — Abdul continues to get assistance from a nonprofit group that helps child victims of war, No More Victims. It first brought Abdul to Pittsburgh two years ago.

(more…)

 For five months, Abdul-Hakeem Khalaf and his father have been eager to return home to Iraq and their large family.

Both cried tears of sadness Tuesday when the day finally arrived, repeatedly hugging their new extended family of Americans, Egyptians, Libyans and Lebanese - all Pittsburghers - who befriended and supported them while Abdul-Hakeem, 7, underwent a series of reconstructive surgeries.

“I’m happy to see my family, and on the other side, I’m sad,” said Ismaeel Khalaf Hussein, 46. (more…)

Six months ago, people in Pittsburgh had never heard of Abdul Hakeem Hussein. (Watch Video.)

Now that he’s part of the family, it will be hard to say goodbye.

Wounded during a bombing in Fallujah, the seven year old came to Pittsburgh in January for life-changing surgery.

Now he’s finally ready to go home — looking much different than when he arrived. (more…)

So, at first I was going to give you some more inside scoop on what’s happening over here at KIRO, and how someone stole a bunch of my books from my desk (news scavengers)….but then we had an amazing guest on the show today, and I was touched so I have to tell you about that first…

Today we talked with Cole Miller on the Dave Ross Show today during our 11:00am hour. (You can hear that interview on our pod cast page). If you’ve read the other blogs I’ve posted you know that I am often humbled (and quite honestly jealous and guilt ridden) by the selfless acts of others (you can read a little about that on my Rachel Corrie blog). (more…)

A seven year old boy whose medical problems are a result of the war in Iraq took a step closer to being made whole today.

Abdul Hakeem Hussein had more surgery today.

Doctors at Children’s Hospital are trying to repair the severe damage done to his face during the war in his native Iraq. (more…)

 Peering around a corner of the small waiting room yesterday, Abdul Hakeem Ismael Khalaf Hussein flashed a set of virtually identical brown eyes — one of them not even minutes old — at several cameras, causing one woman to well up with tears of joy.

The 7-year-old Iraqi boy broke a smile, blinked and made brief eye contact with Maria Roberts, who was trying unsuccessfully to mask her emotions.

Almost seven hours after Abdul Hakeem walked into ocularist Walter Tillman’s Downtown office, his lone dark brown eye, which once stood in contrast to a pale, opaque and unseeing eyeball on the left side of his scarred face, had been joined with a brown acrylic prosthesis that was flushing life back into the child’s face. (more…)

This is an excellent multimedia presentation of Abdul Hakeem’s story from the perspective of San Jose Mercury News photographer Pauline Lubens.

Pittsburghers were captivated this week by the 7-year-old Iraqi boy who arrived here for reconstructive facial surgery at Children’s Hospital, having been badly disfigured in an American bombing raid in 2004.

On a shoestring budget, the American group No More Victims arranged for his medical care, got visas for the child and his father, paid their expenses in Jordan until the documents came through, and is still trying to raise the cash to cover the travel. A Massachusetts philanthropist kicked in $50,000 for the hospital bill. A single mom in Banksville has taken father and son into her home during their stay. (more…)

Seven-year-old Abdul-Hakeem Khalaf’s wide, slightly askew grin is beautiful enough, distracting from the disfiguring facial injuries left from a bombing in his hometown of Fallujah, Iraq.

“I’m happy because I’m going to have a new look,” he said Sunday through an interpreter, shortly after arriving in Pittsburgh for reconstructive surgery. (more…)