Iraqi Boy to Have Surgery in SF
January 3rd, 2009 | by Vic Lee, ABC 7 San FranciscoSAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A little boy from Iraq got a warm welcome in San Francisco, as he arrived for surgery that will allow him to hear again. He’s getting the help at UCSF, thanks to the generosity of a number of people.
Little Mustafa Ghazwan arrived in the arms of his father. he smiled and waved at about two dozen well wishers, reporters and photographers behind the security glass. At the baggage claim area, Mustafa charmed everyone.
The adoring crowd gave him a welcome any 3-year-old would love — it came with lots of stuffed animals. But the balloons were his favorite. they brought the biggest smile of all on his tiny face. In June of 2007, Mustafa was playing in his Baquba home during a U.S. airstrike. A missile exploded in a neighboring house. The blast killed three other children. Mustafa lived but he lost his hearing.
The child’s father Ghazwan Al-Nadawi says he wrote letters pleading for medical help for his son. “He submitted many request to many people in Iraq, but nobody responded but this organization,” said Al-Nadawi through an interpreter.
Iraqi Boy Injured in War Arrives in Bay Area For Surgery
January 3rd, 2009 | KTVUA 3-year-old Iraqi boy whose hearing was destroyed by a missile blast in the Iraq war was greeted at San Francisco International Airport Wednesday morning by spectators, balloons, TV cameras and many of those responsible for initiating the grassroots effort that brought him to the Bay Area for reparative ear surgery and rehabilitation.
Mustafa Ghazwan, who lost his hearing on June 17, 2007 when a U.S. missile struck near his home in the Iraqi city of Baqouba, smiled and waved from his father’s arms at the welcoming party assembled behind the glass at the arrivals gate at SFO.
Scattered throughout the crowd were members of the informal coalition of community groups that arranged to underwrite the medical care needed to restore Mustafa’s hearing and repair his ability to speak and interact, a process that could take up to four months and is not available to him in Iraq.
Injured Iraqi Boy Arrives in Bay Area for Surgery
January 3rd, 2009 | by Beth Ashley, Marin Independent JournalSAN FRANCISCO - Cheers rose Wednesday morning when 3-year-old Mustafa Ghazwan came through the security gates at San Francisco airport.Mustafa didn’t hear a sound.
Totally deafened in a U.S. bombing raid in 2007 that killed three other children and an old man in his village near Baghdad, Mustafa is in San Francisco to receive a cochlear implant that will allow him to hear again.
He was greeted by five TV cameras and 30 well-wishers, including a sizable Marin contingent that spent most of the past year raising money and making arrangements for an implant operation at the University of California at San Francisco on Jan. 16.
Mustafa smiled, wide-eyed, as three stuffed toys and a bouquet of balloons were thrust into his hands. His dad, 33-year-old Ghazwan Al Nadawi, stood at his side.
“This will mean a whole new life for him,” said UCSF neurologist Dr. Dan Lowenstein of Mill Valley, a member of the hospital’s Iraqi Action Group. “It’s just wonderful.”
Doctors at UCSF Help Victims of War from Home
January 3rd, 2009 | by George Harris, KCBSThe war in Iraq is spurring more Bay Area physicians and activists to help treat civilians wounded in the conflict.At the University of California, San Francisco, a three-year-old Iraqi boy was flown in New Year’s Eve to begin treatment for his hearing loss after a U.S. missile struck near his home in the Iraqi city of Baqouba.
Mustafa Ghazwan, who lost his hearing on June 17, 2007, is scheduled to undergo reparative ear surgery and several months of rehabilitation in order to repair his ability to speak and interact.
Iraq Boy Set for Surgery to Let Him Hear, Speak
January 3rd, 2009 | by Heather Knight, San Francisco ChronicleA rambunctious 3-year-old boy from Iraq is happily settling into San Francisco life as he prepares for cochlear implant surgery to allow him to hear and talk again.
Mustafa Ghazwan lives with his parents and younger brother in Baquba, Iraq. On June 12, 2007, a U.S. jet fired a missile into a building next door and the explosion left the boy deaf. He was just learning to speak at the time, but hasn’t been able to say anything since. His parents have said Mustafa grew increasingly frustrated by his deafness, banging his head against walls and floors.
The story came to the attention of Cole Miller, a Los Angeles writer and founder of No More Victims, a program to bring Iraqi children injured in the war to the United States for medical care.
“These are the kinds of human stories that are behind the missiles that fall,” Miller said.
Iraqi Boy Injured by US Missile to Arrive in SF
December 29th, 2008 | Bay City NewsSAN FRANCISCO — A 3-year-old Iraqi boy whose hearing was destroyed when a U.S. missile struck his next-door neighbor’s house last year will arrive in San Francisco Wednesday to undergo restorative surgery.
Mustafa Ghazwan lost his hearing on June 17, 2007 when a U.S. missile struck his neighborhood in the Iraqi city of Baqouba, according to the Los Angeles-based nonprofit No More Victims.
The organization brings children injured in the war in Iraq to the U.S. for community-sponsored medical treatment, and has arranged for Mustafa to receive a cochlear implant and rehabilitative treatment at UCSF Medical Center.
Initiative Bringing Injured Iraqi Children, US Communities Together
August 17th, 2008 | by Robert O’Neill, Jordan TimesAMMAN - Within the coming week, Mustafa Abed and Mustafa Ghazwan, two Iraqi children severely injured during separate incidents in the Iraq war, are scheduled cross the Atlantic to receive free medical treatment with the help of US-based human rights organisation No More Victims (NMV).
Since 2004, the organisation has been working in Amman to facilitate medical treatment in Jordan, Syria and the US for Iraqi children directly injured by US-led coalition military operations. The medical care is completely paid for by American community groups, employing Iraqi doctors displaced by the conflict to perform surgeries and rehabilitative services for affected children.