Doctors Help Iranian Boy Born With Half a Face!!!

Eleven-year-old Mohammad Karimi will spend his summer like many other boys his age -- hiking, swimming and attending summer camp. But unlike many of his peers in upstate New York, the pre-teen nicknamed "Mo" will be recovering from his 19th facial surgery, an effort by doctors to repair congenital deformities that nearly killed him at birth.

Born in Iran missing a nose, right eye and much of the right side of his face, Mo underwent 18 surgeries since arriving in the U.S. in 2003. After receiving a prosthetic eye with tear ducts and a nose bridge built from tissue from his ear lobes in recent years, the youngster braved his 19th operation on Thursday. Dr. Lucie Capek constructed a right nostril through a graft from Mo's ear in a three-hour surgery procedure at Ellis Health Center in Schenectady.

"This surgery went really well," Dr. Mohammad Rad, a maxillofacial surgeon who has performed some of Mohammad's surgeries and hosts him and his mother at his home in Amsterdam, N.Y., told AOL News. "As a little boy, he gets nervous, but he didn't get nervous this time."

Rad has become a surrogate family member to Mo and his mother, Laila Ahmadi, since meeting the boy in 2003, when the humanitarian group Rotary of Amsterdam brought Mo to the U.S. though its Gift of Life program. Over the next seven years, Mo, who almost suffocated at birth because he had no nostrils, has undergone 19 surgeries, many for free, with help from Rad.

"It's almost like a miracle for me," Ahmadi said at a news conference last week of her son's progress. In Iran, she said, children with deformities are often hidden in their homes.

Though Mo's face remains "puffy" from his recent procedure, Rad said he is recovering well enough to begin summer camp soon.

"The first day was rough for him because of all the bandages, but yesterday I took the bandages out and let him go and take a shower," Dr. Rad told AOL News. "He was very happy. It shows us that it's the little things in life that make us happy."

According to published reports, Mo, who is fluent in English, excelled in his elementary school classes, even if he was initially questioned by his classmates about his appearance.

"The first time I went to school, everyone kept on looking at me and asking me what's wrong with my face," he told reporters last week.

Rad said Mo will continue to undergo surgeries throughout his adolescent years, as doctors monitor the development of his mouth and jaw, but he predicts Mo will maintain his optimistic disposition.

"He's excellent," Rad said. "He doesn't hold a grudge against his doctors, and he always laughs and jokes with them."

Mo will start middle school in the fall and his mother credits his doctors with allowing him to attend school and continue to grow.

"He is almost, I think, normal," she said. "They have done a great job for Mohammad and me."

Don't Forget To Subscribe