Palestinian youth has surgery for bullet injury Arrangements were made to bring him to O.C., where he is staying with a family for a month. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER By THERESA SALINAS The Orange County Register LADERA RANCH – Abdullah Abu Salah sat anxiously in a wheelchair last week, dreaming about the day when he can rouse his right leg into action and play soccer or frolic on the beach once more, thinking about his upcoming surgery. The slight Palestinian boy has been unable to feel anything below his right knee since he was shot in the thigh by an Israeli soldier in February. Salah, 13, underwent a six-hour surgery at an Orange County hospital Tuesday to reconstruct a nerve severed during the shooting. His surgeon, Dr. Farzadi Massoudi, said Salah is doing well. The surgery has a 20 percent to 30 percent chance of working, he said. It will take Salah six months to two years of intense physical therapy to fully recover, he added. Salah's saga began six months ago as he walked home from school with a group of friends in Rafah, a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip that has a population of 80,000 - about the size of Buena Park. Along the way, they stopped to help some neighbors collect belongings from their home, which had been demolished by Israeli forces a few days before. Suddenly, someone in an Israeli tank began firing at them, he said. An aid worker said some of the boys had been hurling stones at the soldiers. Boom, boom, boom-boom. Before Salah realized what was happening, an M-16 bullet pierced his slender right thigh and cut through his sciatic nerve. The bullet then entered his left leg, where it fractured his thigh bone. Salah lay on the ground, bleeding from both legs. He was treated at a hospital, where he later met Steve Sosebee, founder of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, an Ohio-based nonprofit group that provides Palestinian children with surgical care. When Sosebee saw Salah would need intensive nerve surgery that is not available there, he set about making arrangements to bring him to the United States. Massoudi and a south- county hospital, which asked not to be named, agreed to perform the operation for free. And Ladera Ranch residents Basel and Samar Abdel Fattah fixed up a spare bedroom in their home so Salah can recover there after his surgery. Salah arrived at their home Aug. 16. Since then, they've introduced him to Disneyland, Wal-Mart, In-N-Out, Skittles candy and other aspects of American life. He's taken a special liking to their community pool, which he has been visiting about three times a day. He spent hours splashing in the water while leaning on his left leg, which is still weak but provides some support. "It's a great feeling to be able to help someone," said Samar Abdel Fattah, a Palestinian immigrant. "Especially when you see their face when they do something new for the first time. It's heartwarming." Salah will stay with the Fattahs and their four sons for about one month. Then he will return home to his family of nine. Someone at the Fattahs' mosque gave him $100, which he sent home for school supplies. Salah, who has light brown hair and piercing dark eyes, said Thursday that he is grateful for the outpouring of support he's received from Americans. "Thank God" for Massoudi and the hospital, he said. "Thank God" for the Fattahs and their generosity. And, he added, "Thank God" for members of the Orange County Islamic Foundation, who have showered him with gifts and prayers since he arrived. "Hopefully, this will show Abdullah, his family and his community that people outside do care about people who are victims of war and will do what they can to help support these kids," Sosebee said. Cards can be mailed to Salah at the Orange County Islamic Foundation, 23581 Madero Drive, Suite 101, Mission Viejo, CA 92691.
