Injured teen from Gaza gets medical treatment in Bay Area
The Brief
19 year old from Gaza brought to Bay Area for medical treatment
Amputee injured in airstrike in October 2023
Humanitarian organization provides healthcare to injured Palestinian children
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A 19-year-old amputee from Gaza is completing a round of treatments after she suffered multiple serious injuries during a bombing in October 2023.
Farah Ammar was brought to the Bay Area for medical care by humanitarian organization HEAL Palestine.
On Tuesday, she received a prosthetic eye. It was an emotional moment marking the end of a number of surgeries and treatments.
The backstory
After the October 7, 2023, attack in Gaza, Ammar and her family were evacuated to a home with other families seeking shelter. On October 16, she was injured during an airstrike on the shelter her family was staying in.
"I lost my eye, and my leg, and broke my hand," said Ammar.
"All she saw is her leg, just like a thread holding her leg," said Suha Khatib, who is hosting her family in the United States.
Khatib, translating for Ammar, said she arrived in December, refusing to use a wheelchair as she walked off the plane at SFO, despite her amputated leg.
HEAL Palestine is a nonprofit that brings children from Gaza to the U.S. to receive medical treatment through volunteer providers.
How it works
Injured children get a medical visa and are brought to medical appointments by their host families. In Ammar's case, Khatib also hosted her mother and sister, while the rest of her family stayed safe in Egypt.
There are currently 35 children from Gaza across the country receiving treatment through HEAL Palestine.
"There are thousands of children in Gaza that need medical treatment that can't receive it," said HEAL Palestine volunteer Talha Baqar. "Us helping Farah is a drop in the bucket."
Over the last few months, Ammar received a prosthetic leg, a surgery for her hand, and a prosthetic eye, from doctors in the Bay Area.
Doctors like ocularist and prosthetist Raymond Rendon in San Jose volunteer to provide medical care, free of charge.
"It helps to restore her psychological well-being, helps her to feel normal, and because of that it has therapeutic value, it's not just cosmetic," said Rendon, who has worked with HEAL Palestine in the past.
"We kind of forget they're just normal kids. Before this war they lived normal lives," said Baqar.
As Ammar looked in the mirror, she said she was inching closer to normal now.
"She realized that she has two eyes so she can actually put make up again," said Khatib, translating for Ammar.
What's next
Ammar's doctors will continue to keep an eye on her recovery until she returns home to be reunited with the rest of her family later this summer.
The Source
HEAL Palestine
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