6 MAR 2008 Raise the Roof

6 MAR 2008 Raise the Roof

Hi Friends.

Just because I don't check in that often doesn't mean that I'm not thinking of you...


Today has meaning. On this day, three years ago, a two-year-old Iraqi girl in my care died. Her name was M. A month prior she had been burned when an insurgent threw a firebomb through the front window of her family home. The reason they were attacked was her father was in the Iraqi National Guard.

In Balad, we took care of her for a month, cleaning her burns, grafting her skin. We took care of the whole family because they had all been burned in the attack. Even the father burned his hand rescuing his daughters. One by all of them became well enough to go home, except M. We made small steps forward, but never fully got ahead of the damage. Eventually she developed an overwhelming infection and died. A few weeks later her father was killed in battle. I sit here in my warm, safe home and I remember them.

Friends in Balad are continuing to work hard to give excellent medical care to anyone who comes through the door. I want to introduce you to Josh. I have seen him come up through the ranks and become a world-class surgeon as he completed his residency. He is now providing fine care to the troops in Iraq.

He sent me great pictures of his crew erecting a roof on OR5, which is on the roof of the hospital.





The scene and the faces are very familiar to me.

Better than that, Josh is blogging about his work in Balad. You can find it here. The address is:

http://www.joshalley.com/

I enjoy reading his posts. I think you will too.

Best wishes,

Chris