Monday, January 25, 2010

My dear friend Abdul

Abdul, myself and sweet, sweet Saja. The search is on for Strawberry Shortcake in Arabic. Anyone got one? ;)
Luly waving Goodbye for now to Saja as we were transfered to the Immuno Comprimised Unit this afternoon.

The Iraqi man I mentioned before became my friend when I shook his hand and we've just become better friends everyday. He is accompanied by a beautiful, wonderful American soldier who has spent countless days here at the hospital by his daughter Saja's bedside. I'll call her St. T. She is a second mother to all his 6 children, they love her dearly. She has done 3 tours of duty in Iraq. She is such a hero on so many levels. And that is all I will say about her. :) Another hero in their story is Warrant Officer Russel Hayes of Idaho. He, being a father of a Little Person made it his mission with the help of Matt Roloff (Little People, Big World. TLC) to get this family out of Iraq and provide their 3 dwarf children with life saving surgeries as well as Abdul with his brain surgery around the corner. It would not have been detected without the intuition of Warrant Officer Hayes.

As I said before, Abdul speaks very little English and Arabic interpreters are only sent for important care meetings with Doctors and other experts. St. T doesn't speak Arabic although Abdul's children speak English very well, thanks to her. I know first hand as I spoke with 3 of them on the phone yesterday. So needless to say, it must be very hard for Abdul to have no one to talk to, no one to fully communicate with.


James and I put our heads together and thought...."who do we know that speaks Arabic?" Most Utahans would probably not know anyone but LUCKILY we do. One of James' clients and now a friend named Waleed is from the Middle East. With excitement we called him and within hours 2 Iraqi consulates were at the hospital meeting with Abdul. VICTORY! He now has visitors everyday. Tonight he will be dining on authentic Iraqi food and speaking in his own tongue to people that are familiar with him, his beliefs and culture. He's been surrounded. He deserves everything good that can come his way. Religious leaders will be meeting with him soon and allow the means for him to worship as he pleases.

This man is also a Hero. In Iraq he was asked by Al-Qaeda to help with their terrorism against American soldiers. He declined. They then offered him money. Declined again. Then they put him on a death list. He was able to find refuge for him and his family in a green zone, his nephew not being as lucky. Tortured and killed by AL-Qaeda for his non-cooperation. They were granted visas under the Specail Immigrant Program to the amazing US of A. His daughter Saja has made improvements in the last 24 hours. Please pray for her and his family as you all have for my LuLu and ours. Please take the time to look at the links below to get to know Abdul and his precious family better. Saja is now LuLu's first Little Friend, but hopefully not her last.






http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/little-people-big-world-meet-the-iraqi-family.html

10 comments:

Jill said...

Wow, Liz. What else can you do? You are amazing!

The Davidson's said...

Its amazing the people you meet on your same road of lessons. Your blessed Liz. I know you know. But seriously....

Erica said...

Amazing. First, I am glad to hear LuLu has graduated from the PICU to the ICS unit. Before long she will be back home with you.
When you mentioned that you met an Iraqi man whose three children were being treated for the same disorder I suspected it was the same family I had seen on Little People Big World. Now you have confirmed my suspicions. I will be praying for them. They seem like such a humble, good family.
Eden and I will be up there tomorrow morning the 26th for another follow up. perhaps we will cross paths. If not I am sure we will be seeing you around.

Anonymous said...

Seriously, reminding me that the heart can be as big as you allow. Inspiring!!!!

Karen said...

paying it back....ur awesome,Liz! Its great seeing Lulu sitting up. her wound is amazing.God bless!

Annie said...

You have me weeping again. You are the sweetest. These are all the reasons I think you weren't supposed to be a donor for Lulu - so you could go around being the hospital angel - making miracles happen for everyone else in addition to Lu. What an amazing example you are. It was one of my New Year's Resolutions to do something for someone else every day; you are doing several grand acts for several people daily. You're an inspiration and I love you.

With love love love,
Annie

Tara said...

Liz, you are so amazing and have such a caring, generous heart. How incredible that this man can do all of these things now, thanks to you. I will keep this family, as well as yours, in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for your amazing example of how we all should be. I'm so proud to call you my friend. Love you!
Tara

Ally Cox said...

Wow! I saw their story on Little People, Big World! I was inspired! I am so glad they are getting help at PCMC! My prayers are with them!

Erin said...

Lizzie,

You are an incredible human being. Jordan gives me updates about Lu whenever he gets them, but I still visit your blog almost every day. You are so good about keeping the world (literally, with people from so many countries visiting Lu's blog) updated even though you are so busy making miracles happen every day. You make me want to be a better person. You are inspiring. All the new pictures of Lu looking so smiley and brave make me cry (tears of happiness, of course), and seeing the capability that we all have to help one another (as you prove every day, as with Abdul and his family), give me hope for humanity. I feel so lucky to know you, James, Jonah, and of course, little LuLu! She is truly a warrior. I am taking a class called The Lyric Essay, and my latest piece was about none other than Lu. I will have to show it to you sometime. I love, Love, LOVE you all.

- Erin

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