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Yanke Bionics is building and donating limbs worth nearly $25,000
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Aug 30, 2008
When Majid Fadhil Sabor walked through the front door of Yanke Bionics on West Exchange Street in Akron Friday, everybody knew his name.
The Iraqi teenager, who had spent several months in Ohio three years ago, was back to be refitted for a new pair of prosthetic legs.
''We're gonna make you taller now,'' said Kevin Montini, a prosthetist for Yanke Bionics who worked with Majid three years ago.
Majid, who turns 15 next month, lost one leg below the knee and severely injured the other when a roadside bomb exploded near him while he was walking to school with his cousin in Al Kut, Iraq, in February 2004. The cousin was killed.
Iraqi surgeons worked on the boy for about three months, trying to save his remaining leg, but it was ultimately amputated below the knee.
In late December 2004, Majid was flown to Ohio and, for the next several months, received free medical care coordinated by the Kent-based nonprofit group Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
Majid was one of the first Iraqi children wounded in the war to be treated in the United States.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Paul Fleissner operated on Majid at Akron Children's Hospital in 2005 to remove bone shards below his knees, an operation that was done to make it easier for him to wear the prosthetic limbs made by Yanke Bionics.
He arrived back in Northeast Ohio this week and was greeted at the airport by Steve Sosebee, the charity's founder and president, and his family.
Majid will stay in the family's Kent home for the next several weeks.
Like last time, the teen's medical care while in the United States will be covered by donations.
At Yanke Bionics, workers on Friday scanned Majid's legs to get exact sizes as part of a process that will ultimately lead to the building of a new pair of prosthetic legs worth nearly $25,000 and donated by the company.
Sosebee said the goal is to get Majid ''on a path to a better life and better future.'' He said his organization will provide medical care to the young man until he is 18.
Majid is expected to see Fleissner next week to determine whether additional surgery is required.
Yanke Bionics will have to monitor the teen to make sure the legs fit properly.
Sosebee said when he saw Majid as he got off the plane this week, ''he looked the same. It was like he never left.''
Sosebee said the young man ''has the same smile, the same infectious smile, and warm personality. We are glad to see him and have him back. He is like a part of our family.''
Sosebee said a U.S. soldier alerted the group to Majid's plight in 2004.
Majid was grateful for the help he is receiving.
''I am excited to be in America,'' he said.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
When Majid Fadhil Sabor walked through the front door of Yanke Bionics on West Exchange Street in Akron Friday, everybody knew his name.
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