Little, but strong: Burned Iraqi child overcomes odds with 729th help

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Lisa Spilinek
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- Editor's Note: The names of the Iraqi mother and son in this article have been changed, at the mother's request, to protect their identities from terrorists who would harm them if it was known that the pair received help from American servicemembers and the U.S. government. 

A photo of an adorable little boy with a bowl haircut and big brown eyes was posted alongside a sign that read, "I may be little, but I am strong," but the scarred child within the hospital isolation room didn't look like the boy in the photo. Only the lively eyes were the same. 

The 3 year old was the victim of a stove fire that left him with second and third degree burns covering 45 percent of his body along with inhalation burns to his lungs. Under the best health care conditions, the mortality rate for such severe injuries is 70 to 80 percent. In Iraq, it's a death sentence. 

Little, but strong Al Amreeki survived. 

The credit for saving Al Amreeki's life belongs to the medical staff working at the Air Force Theater Hospital located at Balad Air Base, Iraq, where the boy has been under constant medical care since Jan. 25. Now Al Amreeki will begin a new chapter in his recovery in America. Again, he has beaten the odds. 

The boy and his mother boarded a March Air Reserve Base C-17 Globemaster III. Captain Paul Losey, 729th Airlift Squadron, flew them to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. Mother and son then traveled to the U.S. 

Getting the boy permission to leave Iraq via a medical airlift mission to the U.S. required OKs at multiple levels by civilian and military leaders in Iraq and the U.S., to include an OK from the office of the U.S. secretary of defense. The Shriners Hospitals for Children-Cincinnati will provide his ongoing treatment. Children Without Borders, a nonprofit organization, will serve as the host agency for Al Amreeki and his mother. 

"I don't know how to thank the American people. They are a great and kind people because they saved my son's life," said Al Amreeki's mother, Amil, through an interpreter. "I pray to God to not let the efforts of these people be wasted. I want him to be as healthy, and beautiful and cute as he was before." 

Yet, Al Amreeki's medical outcome is still unknown. 

"He's at mile two of what I would characterize as a marathon of treatment; the first two miles were marked by a very steep hill," said Maj. (Dr.) David Norton, 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group intensive care unit director. 

Upon arriving at the Balad AB hospital, Al Amreeki's injuries were so bad that he was considered "expectant" by hospital protocols, which means a patient's injuries are too severe to treat beyond administering pain medication, and death is expected. Despite his devastating diagnosis the hospital staff decided to try to treat the toddler anyway, Maj. Norton said. "We decided to give him a chance and he has done very well," the doctor said. "For whatever reason, this is a little man who wants to live; he's a fighter."