http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3118/I_Have_Only_God_to_Help_My_Daughter"I Have Only God to Help My Daughter"
Iraqi Man Cares for Daughter Injured by US Shrapnel in 2003
Posted 2 hr. 14 min. ago
Ahmed Zuhair, 44, takes care of his daughter, Ban, 9, who suffered shrapnel wounds in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Sinan Mahmoud/IRIN
BAGHDAD, 6 June 2007 (IRIN) - Four years ago, Ahmed Zuhair, 44, a father of three girls, decided to get his family out of Baghdad as US-led forces were heading in to topple former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's regime. Minutes after they left their home, nearby bombings sent shrapnel flying at the family, injuring his three daughters Arsalan, 14, Suzan, 12 and Ban, 9.
At the time, doctors only managed to remove shrapnel from Arsalan and Suzan. Ban’s case was more difficult and required complex surgery, which could not be done in Iraq. For the past four years, Ban has depended on painkillers to cope with the shrapnel in her head.
However, last March a piece of shrapnel in her brain led to the formation of an abscess, leaving her almost paralysed in bed and forcing her to leave school permanently.
"As US-led forces were heading to Baghdad on 6 April , me, my wife and our three daughters - Arsalan, Suzan and Ban - left our house in Baghdad's northern neighbourhood of Hurriya at about 8pm. As we were walking to a relative’s house to leave with them in their car, bombings rocked our neighbourhood and left my three daughters with shrapnel wounds. The doctors later said it was from cluster bombs.
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