As she sits in a lush backyard in east Louisville, surrounded by swaying trees and the sweet chatter of birds, 29-year-old Eman Qahwaji is a world away from her reality.
She came to Louisville in April with the goal of getting her 6-year-old son, Saher, a prosthetic leg.
“I was overwhelmed by the amount of welcoming that I found here,” Eman said through an interpreter. “The love that I see to Saher in people’s eyes.”
An Israeli bomb hit their home last summer while Eman was making breakfast. She and her husband were severely injured. Saher lost most of his right leg. His 11-month-old brother was killed.
The family got whatever care they could within a decimated medical system.
With the support of Ohio-based nonprofit HEAL Palestine, Saher and Eman got visas and came to the United States. Eman speaks with her two older sons in Gaza every few days.
“I am very worried about my kids, that they don’t have food to eat,” Eman said.
When Eman and Saher arrived in Louisville, it was against the backdrop of a complete Israeli blockade of Gaza, which kept out food and other necessities. The World Health Organization warned of widespread starvation, and said dozens of children died due to malnutrition.
Israel is now allowing some aid in, but getting it is a dangerous and sometimes deadly undertaking for Palestinians. Local health officials say Israeli troops have killed 400 people and wounded more than 3,000 people who were trying to get food.
A respite in Louisville
In Louisville, Saher and Eman stayed with a local family and didn’t have to worry about where to sleep or how they’d get their next meal. A variety of community volunteers helped them with everything from translating at appointments to taking Saher on social outings, like to the zoo and Louisville City Football Club games.
Saher went to physical therapy every week. He had regular appointments with a prosthetist, too.
“Saher, he came to us so he can learn to walk again. But, really, he wants to go home and play soccer with his brothers,” said Wayne Luckett, co-owner of Louisville Prosthetics.
A custom-fit prosthetic leg would usually cost $10,000 and be paid for by insurance, but Luckett said he secured or provided everything Saher needs on a donation basis.
Normally, he prefers to see fast-growing pediatric patients every few months.
“Four months, eight months, 12 months later, we're going to be needing something, whether it's a length adjustment, a bigger foot, a longer socket,” Luckett said.
That won’t be possible for Saher. Instead of follow-up appointments, Eman will have to check her son’s leg, for fit and to make sure the skin isn’t breaking down. Luckett gave them many extra supplies and instructions, to future-proof Saher’s prosthetic.
“When I met him, actually his nickname was ‘little bunny.’ So he hopped like a bunny on one leg,” he said.
For a kid, getting around that way can be OK. But years and years of that could seriously damage Saher’s knees, hips and spine, Luckett said.
HEAL Palestine — the group that helped get Saher to Louisville — plans to keep bringing him back for care until he’s 18. And Luckett said he’ll continue treating him pro bono for as long as he needs.
Uncertainty ahead
Israel’s response to the Hamas-led attack in October 2023 has killed at least 55,000 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them children, according to health ministry officials. Health researchers say the true number of victims is likely much higher.
In December, United Nations officials said Gaza had the most child amputees per capita anywhere in the world.
Luckett said he hopes American providers will step up to help on a larger scale. With 40 years of experience in prosthetics, he’s seen technology change the industry.
“I think the potential for mass rehabilitation with the current technology that's available in the prosthetics world, with 3D-printing technology, could be a game-changer in Gaza, as well as many other places around the globe, absolutely,” he said.
Luckett said young kids like Saher usually take to their prosthetics pretty quickly.
But for Saher and his mother, Eman, months of living in war and suffering the loss of their home, health and family members has taken a mental toll.
Steve Sosebee, the executive director of HEAL Palestine, said trauma is universal among the 35 kids his group is supporting. He said that’s also true for women like Eman, whose two older sons can’t reliably get food.
“It's almost impossible to truly understand how devastating this is on a daily basis, and the guilt that she feels just having a meal in front of her, and when her kids ask her, ‘What are you eating?’” he said.
To Sosebee, Americans hold responsibility for the harm inflicted on children in Gaza because Israel uses money and weapons from the U.S.
“We have a special responsibility to help heal these children and undo what our bombs have done to them,” he said.
Eman said Saher was happy in Louisville. He ate well, slept well and had plenty of toys to play with. She felt safe, too.
“I lived a different life here,” she said. “I got to know a new people. I call them a family.”
Eman and Saher can’t stay in Louisville, and she doesn’t want them to.
They’re heading to Egypt soon, closer to home, to wait. Eman doesn’t know when the border to Gaza will reopen. But if it does, she wants to be close enough to get back in.
