Dr. (Capt.) Matthew J. Carter holds Qais Abbas, better known as Abbasi. Carter, a pediatrician at the Capt. John Teal Medical Aid Station at Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baqouba, Iraq, is trying to get approval for Abbasi to be flown to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for diagnosis of an undetermined medical condition. (Charlie Coon / S&S)
BAQOUBA, Iraq — Abbasi isn’t like most 3-year-old boys.
He hardly ever smiles or talks. Abbasi often runs a fever of 106 degrees, and when he lays down on his back, the outline of his swollen spleen can be seen pushing through his stomach.
“I was with him the one time he smiled,” said Spc. Penney Gainer. “It was my happiest moment since he has been here.”
Qais Abbas, better known as Abbasi, is suffering from something that can’t be pinpointed by the Iraqi doctors in Baqouba or the American ones at Forward Operating Base Warhorse.
So Dr. (Capt.) Matthew J. Carter, a pediatrician at the Teal Medical Aid Station, is pulling strings to have Abbasi flown for treatment to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Abbasi, the son of a coalition-friendly tribal sheik, or village leader, is thought to be suffering from leukemia or another disease that has caused his spleen and liver to swell and his blood counts to be dangerously low.
Abassi’s enlarged spleen gives his lungs less room to work, Carter said, making the boy work a little harder for every breath he takes.
Transporting Abbasi to the states for diagnosis and treatment has to be justified to the State Department or Defense Department or both.
“We don’t want to advertise that we can help every kid in town,” he said. Doing so, Carter said, would undercut the Iraqis’ own medical providers.
“But this is a very sick kid, and we care,” he added.
Carter said he hoped a decision would be made within a week or two.
The Teal clinic is part of Company C, 203rd Forward Support Battalion, part of the 42nd Infantry Division’s Task Force Liberty. Its Level 2 care capabilities enable the staff to treat everyday sick calls, sprains and strains, dehydration and some casualties of war.
It has operating and trauma rooms. In its first three weeks of operation, the staff treated 392 patients, including 112 Iraqis.
Some of the staff have adopted Abbasi as one of their own. Gainer, of Cary, Ill., cradles Abbasi during the night shift, while Spc. Joy Maine of Snohomish, Wash., handles the day care.
“The first time I saw him I felt really bad because he looked really sick,” Maine said. “Sometimes I’ll take him outside for fresh air to get him out of his bed.”
On Thursday the staff threw a little party for Abbasi, his third birthday. His gifts included a big, red stuffed bear, some clothes and other goodies.
Col. Steven Salazar, commander of the Warhorse-based 3rd Brigade Combat Team, said the request to transport Abbasi to Washington for treatment was a good use of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
“With all the dollars going into the overall fight, the dollars spent to take care of this boy is less than a drop in the bucket,” Salazar said. “But it means a lot to the boy and a lot to a lot of people in (the province of) Diyala.”
Abbasi is one of 22 children of Sheik Ahmed Abdun al-Ahmeri of Bani Saad, located between Baghdad and Baqouba. He said he feels his son is part of his own body and is ready to do anything to make him feel better.
“I trust in God first,” said Abdun, a Shiite, through a translator. “And then I trust the American physicians to help my son be better.”
