5:01 a.m. ET, May 13, 2024
Young Gazans with severe leg injuries find care in US, but face uncertain future
Ahed Bseso’s right leg was amputated at home in Gaza after a tank fired at her building, bringing a wall and debris crashing down on her.
Celina Odeh
Ahed Bseso lay on the kitchen table in her home in Gaza, watching as her uncle amputated her wounded right leg. Standing by, her mother cried, “Ahed is dead!”
But 18-year-old Bseso was very much alive, and she survived to tell her story from a hospital in Greenville, South Carolina.
Bseso said that on December 19, she went to the top floor of her house in Gaza to get a phone signal when an Israeli tank outside fired at her building. It destroyed part of her home’s wall, which came crashing down on her leg, along with heavy debris. With her neighborhood under siege and no possibility of medical attention, her uncle, who used to work as an orthopedic surgeon, used kitchen supplies to amputate her leg below the knee and dress it with unsterilized gauze.
“For four days, I couldn’t leave the house because the Israelis wouldn’t let me,” she told CNN through a translator, at the Shriners Children’s hospital. “There was no medication I could take to inhibit the pain or to help me with my condition. So, I just sat in agony for four days.”
A video of her amputation went viral and caught the attention of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), a US organization that provides free health care to thousands of injured and ill Palestinian children in the Middle East. The organization worked for weeks to bring her to the US for medical care, according to Tareq Hailat, international pediatric healthcare coordinator at PCRF.
She is one of three Palestinians who received PCRF’s help to come to the US for leg injury treatment.
They are not unique: At least 1,000 children in Gaza have had one or both legs amputated, UNICEF reported in December — a number that has since grown.
5:01 a.m. ET, May 13, 2024
Young Gazans with severe leg injuries find care in US, but face uncertain future
Ahed Bseso’s right leg was amputated at home in Gaza after a tank fired at her building, bringing a wall and debris crashing down on her.
Celina Odeh
Ahed Bseso lay on the kitchen table in her home in Gaza, watching as her uncle amputated her wounded right leg. Standing by, her mother cried, “Ahed is dead!”
But 18-year-old Bseso was very much alive, and she survived to tell her story from a hospital in Greenville, South Carolina.
Bseso said that on December 19, she went to the top floor of her house in Gaza to get a phone signal when an Israeli tank outside fired at her building. It destroyed part of her home’s wall, which came crashing down on her leg, along with heavy debris. With her neighborhood under siege and no possibility of medical attention, her uncle, who used to work as an orthopedic surgeon, used kitchen supplies to amputate her leg below the knee and dress it with unsterilized gauze.
“For four days, I couldn’t leave the house because the Israelis wouldn’t let me,” she told CNN through a translator, at the Shriners Children’s hospital. “There was no medication I could take to inhibit the pain or to help me with my condition. So, I just sat in agony for four days.”
A video of her amputation went viral and caught the attention of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), a US organization that provides free health care to thousands of injured and ill Palestinian children in the Middle East. The organization worked for weeks to bring her to the US for medical care, according to Tareq Hailat, international pediatric healthcare coordinator at PCRF.
They are not unique: At least 1,000 children in Gaza have had one or both legs amputated, UNICEF reported in December — a number that has since grown.
In a heart-wrenching story of survival and resilience, young Gazans with severe leg injuries have found care in the United States, but now face an uncertain future. One such survivor is 18-year-old Ahed Bseso, whose right leg was amputated at home in Gaza after a tank fired at her building, causing a wall and debris to crash down on her.
Bseso’s harrowing ordeal was captured in a viral video that caught the attention of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), a US organization that provides free healthcare to injured and ill Palestinian children in the Middle East. With the help of PCRF, Bseso was brought to the Shriners Children’s hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, where she is currently receiving medical care.
Sadly, Bseso is not alone in her suffering. According to UNICEF, at least 1,000 children in Gaza have had one or both legs amputated, a number that continues to rise. The situation in Gaza remains dire, with many children lacking access to proper medical care and facing the devastating consequences of conflict.
As Bseso and other young Gazans continue their journey towards recovery in the US, their future remains uncertain. The challenges they face are not just physical, but also emotional and psychological. Despite the obstacles ahead, these survivors demonstrate incredible strength and courage in the face of adversity.
