Warms the Heart

This is Duniya (pronounced: doo-nee-yah). Duniya is the 10 year old daughter of an Iraqi Army officer and was injured in a car accident over 7 years ago in which she fractured her spine. She lost the use of her legs, but has more than made up for it with the huge amount of love in her heart.

While we were cleaning and organizing the Iraqi Army aid-station, the LT brought her in so that we could treat some pressure wounds or decubitus ulcers (bed sores) that she had developed on her hip and the side of her knee, due to her inability to move and actually feel the pain from these wounds forming. These types of pressure wounds are generally found on patients that have had long-term care and have not been turned or moved on a regular basis. Duniya's wounds looked clean and were not infected, so I cleaned them again and bandaged them up. I gave her father a bag full of dressings and other materials that he could use to continue this process everyday. We also educated him about the importance of regular turning and re-positioning of his daughter, something that he had probably never known.

I just don't know what else to say about Duniya. You can look into her eyes and see the love in her heart, not to mention the beautiful smile that gives it away, too. What a joy it was to be able to help in the small way that we did!