The 9-year-old Iraqi girl who lost her legs in an airstrike walked on two prosthetic legs at Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville for the first time today.

“She was like, ‘Look, I got my second leg. I’m walking,’ ” said interpreter Ghada Saif. “She was really excited.”

“It was one of those moments like when your baby takes her first steps,” said Selena Frank. “You can tell she’s wanting to get moving.” (more…)

The X-ray on the light box exposes the stark reality of Salee Allawe’s injuries — jagged bone below the left knee, a healed thigh fracture on what’s left of her right leg, chunks of shrapnel in the flesh.

“You have a very short segment like this,” says Dr. David Westberry, pointing to the X-ray before the 9-year-old Iraqi girl arrives for an appointment, “and it’s hard to fit a prosthesis that will fit well and stay on, and that small segment of bone doesn’t really function well.”

After she lost both legs in a missile strike last November, doctors in Iraq amputated Salee’s right leg at the knee and the left leg below the knee, says Westberry, an orthopedic surgeon with Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville. (more…)

Salee Allawe dreams of running with her friends, of walking to her mother with a bouquet of flowers, of finally getting out of her wheelchair.

And with the help of the Upstate, her dream is about to come true.

The 9-year-old Iraqi girl lost both legs below the knee in an airstrike last fall. She arrived in Greenville, where she is undergoing medical treatment at Shriners Hospital for Children, three weeks ago after a two-month journey fraught with danger and uncertainty. (more…)

Salee Allawe dreams of running with her friends, of walking to her mother with a bouquet of flowers, of finally getting out of her wheelchair.

And with the help of the Upstate, her dream is about to come true.

The 9-year-old Iraqi girl lost both legs below the knee in an air strike last fall. She arrived in Greenville, where she is undergoing medical treatment at Shriners Hospital for Children, three weeks ago after a two-month journey fraught with danger and uncertainty. (more…)

Swatting at a yellow balloon and giggling as it bounces off her interpreter’s nose, Salee Allawe hardly presents the picture of a 9-year-old who’s just had surgery after losing her legs in a U.S. air strike that killed her brother a few months ago in Iraq.

“She’s happy and excited,” Lora Alakhwan, an 18-year-old Greenville woman who’s translating for Salee and her father, Hussein, while they’re here for medical care, said Thursday. “She knows it’s a step toward becoming much better.”

Tuesday’s two-hour operation removed a portion of the stump on Salee’s left leg so that it is even with the right leg, said Selena Frank, a member of the Upstate Coalition of Compassion. That will make it easier for her to be fitted with prosthetic legs eventually. (more…)

A 9-year-old Iraqi girl injured during a U.S. air strike may walk again after she receives prosthetic legs at a hospital here.

Salee Allawe arrived at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport on Sunday with her father, about eight months after a bomb hit her home in Hasswa, Iraq. She and her brother were playing with friends outside during the air strike, which killed her 8-year-old brother, Akram. Salee’s legs had to be amputated at the knees. (more…)

Salee Allawe smiled shyly Sunday as her father pushed her wheelchair into the baggage claim at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.

The 9-year-old Iraqi girl had finally made it to Greenville to get the medical treatment she needs, about eight months after losing her legs in a U.S. airstrike, volunteers say.

A crowd of about 25 greeted her with cheers and a giant sign that said “Welcome Salee” in Arabic and English. One of the greeters, Haifa Abdulhadi, knelt next to Allawe and translated her softly spoken response. (more…)

Salee Allawe smiled shyly Sunday as her father pushed her wheelchair into the baggage claim at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.

The 9-year-old Iraqi girl had finally made it to Greenville to get the medical treatment she needs, about nine months after losing her legs in a U.S. air strike, volunteers say.

A crowd of about 25 greeted her with cheers and a giant sign that said “Welcome Salee” in Arabic and English. One of the greeters, Haifa Abdulhadi, knelt next to Allawe and translated her softly spoken response. (more…)