A Boy To Remember
Unlike many 12-year olds, Mohammed had set a rigid routine for himself. He was up before dawn to perform his prayers, wash, eat breakfast and prepare his schoolwork. What people saw was the laughing boy, wheeling himself around the hospital grounds, serving as the referee for volleyball games, directing the nurses to set his kite in flight, or sitting companionably with the hospital guards or a construction crew enjoying a cup of tea and pleasant conversation.
What people did not see was that his crushed spine was severely angulated and that he suffered from frequent urinary infections. They could not see the pressure sores that scarred his body. Nor would they know he’d fought malaria three times and endured many local, infectious diseases. He suffered silently and with strength, and smiled even when those parts of his body he could feel were racked with pain. “He is a light that shines during even the grayest days”, said his rescuer, his Angel.
But a hospital ward is no place for a boy to spend his childhood. Even so, it came as disheartening news that because of unsavory political and security events his hospital “home” was being forced to close. No options for alternative housing could be found since orphanages in Afghanistan could not provide the medical care Mohammed needed and there were no boarding schools for students his age. Most certainly he would die within months even if his father (who is currently in hiding against the revenge of his many victims) could be coerced into taking him home. This bright-eyed boy with a radiant smile, confined for life to a wheelchair that cannot imprison his spirit, his intellect, his charm or his sense of enthusiasm, needed a home.
The nurse we mentioned earlier—let’s call her Angel—was now working hard on Mohammed’s behalf, swinging into action to find the care he needed in the United States. She began working on getting visas for Mohammed and his guardian to travel into the U.S. Being from the Boston area, Angel had been in contact with doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital who felt they could provide medical care that would make a difference to his long-term outcome. Without this care, complications common to his condition would kill him. There now remained the question of how to pay for Mohammed’s treatment and the answer to that question was found. Doctors at Mass. General Hospital knew of The Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation and contacted us about the case. We agreed right away to fund the amount needed for ohammed’s evaluation and treatment.
With these important pieces of the puzzle in place – where the boy would be treated and how it would be paid for – Angel could begin to press for expedition of the visas for Mohammed and his guardian. She knew she was in a race against time; that when the hospital in Afghanistan closed, the wheelchair-bound child would be forced into the streets and would probably not survive.
