Double-amputee Soham Hassan Ka-Naan receives an examination bythe Iraqi Ministry of Defense prosthetic clinic adviser Chris Cummings,
(right) and Maj. Cynthia Majerske Sept. 5 in Baghdad.
Multi-National Division – Center PAO
FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Third Heavy Brigade Combat Team medical personnel visited an Iraqi Ministry of Defense prosthetic clinic in Baghdad’s International Zone last week.
The purpose of the visit was to help 20-year-old Soham Hassan Ka-Naan and 17-year-old Hussein Ahmed.
The lives of these two Iraqi citizens were changed by insurgents after separate attacks left both as amputees.
Soham was 17 when an insurgent rocket attack in Jisr Diyala took her left leg below the knee and her entire right leg to her hip. Three years later, she came to the clinic after her case was discovered during a recent 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, humanitarian mission to the city. This was the woman’s first visit to the clinic, and she and her family say they are very pleased.
“God bless the American Soldiers,” said Khalid Hassan Ka-Naan, Soham’s brother, who accompanied her during her visit. “We appreciate everything they do for us. My mother prays for you everyday to help her life. We are very grateful for you help.”
Soham’s right hip and left leg were measured to be fit with prosthetics.
According to Chris Cummins, prosthetic clinic adviser and former U.S. Army civil affairs Soldier, Soham’s bi-lateral amputation complicates the situation, but he feels confident that with modern prosthetic tools and methods, she will one day walk unassisted.
“She has a whole world of challenges,” Cummings said. “A below-knee (amputation) and the other at her hip will require a lot of balance and upper body strength.”
Hussien was only a child when an insurgent roadside bomb took one of his legs. His visit to the clinic with his father included an ultrasound to evaluate his old wound. The ultrasound will find defects such as painful and potentially debilitating bone spurs not detectable to the naked eye.
“He’ll do fine,” Cummings said during Hussein’s evaluation. “We’ll get a good fitting (for him).”
Cummings conducted both Soham’s and Hussein’s evaluations during their first visit to the clinic. Cummings, an Operation Iraq Freedom veteran, said he thinks both patients will benefit from the evaluations and looks forward to their follow-up appointments.
“It’s always great to see kids,” he said. “I stay in this field to help people.”
Soham and Hussein are scheduled for future visits to start physical therapy and to be fitted with their new prosthetic limbs.
Maj. Cynthia Majerske, of Bar Harbor, Maine, the 3rd HBCT surgeon, who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, said she accompanied the pair on the visit to assist in their evaluations and to check out the facility.
“I was impressed,” Majerske said. “Cummings is there with state-of-the-art equipment to make prosthetics. The staff there is very knowledgeable and caring.”
Majerske, and other medical professionals from 3rd HBCT, contacted the Multi-National Security Transition Command after meeting Hussein and Soham.
The Soldiers and their patients were then referred to the prosthetic clinic in the International Zone.
The prosthetic clinic is an Iraqi Ministry of Defense project to help wounded Iraqi army soldiers, but the Iraqi Surgeon General, Gen. Samire, has taken the project further by extending their services to include Iraqi police and civilian casualties as well.
The 3-1 Cav. Regt. is assigned to the 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga. and has been deployed in support of OIF since March 2007.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Third Heavy Brigade Combat Team medical personnel visited an Iraqi Ministry of Defense prosthetic clinic in Baghdad’s International Zone last week.
The purpose of the visit was to help 20-year-old Soham Hassan Ka-Naan and 17-year-old Hussein Ahmed.
The lives of these two Iraqi citizens were changed by insurgents after separate attacks left both as amputees.
Soham was 17 when an insurgent rocket attack in Jisr Diyala took her left leg below the knee and her entire right leg to her hip. Three years later, she came to the clinic after her case was discovered during a recent 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, humanitarian mission to the city. This was the woman’s first visit to the clinic, and she and her family say they are very pleased.
“God bless the American Soldiers,” said Khalid Hassan Ka-Naan, Soham’s brother, who accompanied her during her visit. “We appreciate everything they do for us. My mother prays for you everyday to help her life. We are very grateful for you help.”
Soham’s right hip and left leg were measured to be fit with prosthetics.
According to Chris Cummins, prosthetic clinic adviser and former U.S. Army civil affairs Soldier, Soham’s bi-lateral amputation complicates the situation, but he feels confident that with modern prosthetic tools and methods, she will one day walk unassisted.
“She has a whole world of challenges,” Cummings said. “A below-knee (amputation) and the other at her hip will require a lot of balance and upper body strength.”
Hussien was only a child when an insurgent roadside bomb took one of his legs. His visit to the clinic with his father included an ultrasound to evaluate his old wound. The ultrasound will find defects such as painful and potentially debilitating bone spurs not detectable to the naked eye.
“He’ll do fine,” Cummings said during Hussein’s evaluation. “We’ll get a good fitting (for him).”
Cummings conducted both Soham’s and Hussein’s evaluations during their first visit to the clinic. Cummings, an Operation Iraq Freedom veteran, said he thinks both patients will benefit from the evaluations and looks forward to their follow-up appointments.
“It’s always great to see kids,” he said. “I stay in this field to help people.”
Soham and Hussein are scheduled for future visits to start physical therapy and to be fitted with their new prosthetic limbs.
Maj. Cynthia Majerske, of Bar Harbor, Maine, the 3rd HBCT surgeon, who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, said she accompanied the pair on the visit to assist in their evaluations and to check out the facility.
“I was impressed,” Majerske said. “Cummings is there with state-of-the-art equipment to make prosthetics. The staff there is very knowledgeable and caring.”
Majerske, and other medical professionals from 3rd HBCT, contacted the Multi-National Security Transition Command after meeting Hussein and Soham.
The Soldiers and their patients were then referred to the prosthetic clinic in the International Zone.
The prosthetic clinic is an Iraqi Ministry of Defense project to help wounded Iraqi army soldiers, but the Iraqi Surgeon General, Gen. Samire, has taken the project further by extending their services to include Iraqi police and civilian casualties as well.
The 3-1 Cav. Regt. is assigned to the 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga. and has been deployed in support of OIF since March 2007.
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