One Wrong Turn Leads to a Mother
Soldiers of the 155th Brigade Combat Team help 7-year-old boy get life-changing surgery.
(PRWEB) May 25, 2005 -- One cow, left horn hanging down, stares at the
soldiers who have arrived at the Iraqi village of seven houses to search for
weapons and insurgents. Anther cow, running in circles, races faster as a woman
pounds it with dirt clods.
A three-legged dog barks incessently, tripping
and falling each time he runs toward the men.
Ten baby chicks follow
dutifully behind their featherless mother, unafraid of the
strangers.
“She looked like she’d already been plucked to eat,” explains
SFC Kevin Kelly, “except I think she got away.”
A herd of 30 sheep run
toward Kelly and a local villager, interrupting their
conversation.
Dozens of children clamor for not enough candy in the
soldiers’ pockets.
Kelly says he and his team were preparing to search
another group of houses when a mother and her seven year-old son appeared in the
doorway to their home.
“They were saying something, but we weren't paying
that close attention until the father reached down and pulled up his son's gown
(I don't know what the gown thing is called). I saw a horrific sight: the little
boy had no penis and his bladder was hanging out.”
Sensing the young
boy’s embarrassment, the soldiers pulled the gown back down while they talked
through an interpreter with the boy’s parents, who explained details of the
birth defect.
“After we assured them we would bring a doctor back to the
village, they agreed to let us take a picture to show Doc (MAJ) Leewood,” Kelly
recounts. “I know that this might make my land navigation skills sound bad, but
we actually took a wrong turn 200 meters before our scheduled stop two weeks
ago. If we had not stopped in that particular village, we never would have met
Mohammad.”
Yesterday, Kelly announced U. S. troops escorted Mohammad and
his father to Baghdad.
“When we took them to the Humvee to put them
inside, we told the father we hated to do this, but we would have to blindfold
him until we got to our FOB. He said he understood. Still, it felt kind of weird
that we were helping them out but still had to blindfold; but it was the right
thing to do.”
“We took them to the aid station (medical tent) at the
base to wait for the helicopter,” he continues. “I had to go put up my body
armor and a few other things before I could go back and check on him. When I got
back, people were coming in and out to greet them and to see the boy everyone
had been talking about. I brought him a coloring book someone had sent for the
kids. SFC Arthur brought him some matchbox cars. Others brought toys, food,
Gatorade, food and even money. It was like Christmas for the little boy. We
finally got everyone ran out to give them a little break. Since it was going to
be a while before the helicopter got there, I decided eat and go to church
first.”
Afterward, Kelly returned to check on Mohammad, still waiting for
the helicopter to arrive.
“He was eating a sucker and watching The Polar
Express on someone's laptop,” Kelly shares like a proud uncle. “He would always
look up at me and then shy away and look back down. I slid over to him and
showed him a picture of my own son. He loved the soccer one. Then I slid back to
where I was before to watch the movie with him.”
When the helicopter
arrived, LTC Robinson greeted Mohammad and his father.
“I handed him his
back pack full of little green apples and all the other stuff everyone had given
him,” Kelly recalls. “He just kind of threw up a hand and waved. That was all
the thanks we needed. The bird took off, and our little boy was headed to
Baghdad for surgery.”
As the helicopter lifted from the ground, SFC
Arthur commented, “If that doesn't get to your heart, something is wrong with
you,”
“I couldn't agree more,” Kelly concludes. “I'll let you know more
when we hear something. It could be tomorrow or it could be weeks. Thanks for
all the prayers, though. I've attached the picture of us picking up
Mohammad.”
I can only imagine Mohammad’s mother, waiting patiently now in
the village where soldiers mysteriously arrived two weeks ago to bring hope and
healing to her son.
SFC Kelly serves with the 155th Brigade Combat Team
in Iraq.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb243931.htm