UPDATE: Iraqi Boy Adopted on Long Island
Abdeen Hadi is about as active and happy as any typical 4-year-old American child: he sings and dances to nursery songs, eagerly pores through storybooks, and jumps up and down on his bed with glee.
But Hadi is not a typical child. Born in Iraq, he lost half his face in a car bombing when he was nine months old.
“He was left to die,” said Kathy Malloy, a volunteer from Suffolk County who has become Abdeen’s advocate in the U.S. “His 17-year-old uncle took him to the American military hospitals, and in four months they did 20 surgeries.
"The child was not even a year old yet," she said.
In April, doctors and charitable organizations rallied around Hadi and were able to bring him to the U.S. for the rest of the surgeries required to reconstruct his face. But months later, the recovery process is still ongoing and all Hadi's financial aid has dried up.
Now Hadi and his uncle Hasan are facing homelessness. Hadi had been staying at the Ronald McDonald house in New Hyde Park on Long Island, but because his next surgery can’t be scheduled for a few years, he no longer qualifies to stay there.
Instead, he’s been staying in a cramped motel room at the Floral Park Motor Lodge. Ronald McDonald House is paying the bill until mid-January, but after that they will have no place to go.
Malloy says the boy’s medical needs are still pressing.
“He has an open trach in his throat and he sleeps with a type of oxygen machine at night -- otherwise he can't breathe," said Malloy. "There's no way he can go back to Iraq with an open trach. He really is in the middle of medical care."
He also needs constant occupational and physical therapy to stretch his mouth open. His face is so swollen that the opening where his mouth should be isn’t big enough to let enough air in on its own. The stretching will eventually allow him to breathe comfortably and allow doctors to remove the tracheotomy.
It’s the kind of medical care doctors on Long Island say Hadi needs to have in the U.S.
“I just love this baby, I can’t get enough of him,” said Malloy as she began to tear up. “They’re coming to my house for Christmas and they’ll spend a few days with me, but it’s only a few days.”
Hadi’s uncle Hasan is now learning how to speak English. He told us he would gladly get a job to support himself and his nephew, but his visa doesn’t allow him to work in the United States. They are stuck with no way to support themselves.
Malloy says they’re hoping to find another facility similar to Ronald McDonald House that can give the boy housing and care until doctor’s say he’s healthy enough to go home.
“We’re just looking for help," she said. "We can do a lot but we can’t do it all.”
