Darling of the Ward

This touching story if from Alaska e-post:

The smile on the face of the little Iraqi girl in the Intensive Care Ward of the U.S. Army’s 47th Combat Surgical Hospital has an uplifting effect on the otherwise somber mood of the hospital.
Samah Arajy is a precocious 12-year-old girl recovering from wounds she sustained when she was caught in the crossfire between coalition forces and insurgents last September in her home town of Tal Afar.
Initially, she was treated at a local Iraqi hospital and released shortly after. Because her family was unable to get follow up medical care, her wounded leg became infected.
It was obvious to her father, Mohammed Arajy, that his daughter needed medical treatment soon.
Help came in the form of 2nd Platoon, B Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment. While in Mosul, where Samah’s family was staying temporarily, her father sent her brother running outside their residence to flag down a Stryker vehicle on patrol to ask for some anti-bacterial ointment. Capt. Brent Irish, 2nd Platoon leader stopped the Stryker and asked to see the girl...

Since she was admitted to the CSH, Samah has undergone several operations and six weeks of intensive antibiotic treatments. Her condition has improved dramatically and her leg is healing.
The staff and doctors treat her like one of their own children; pushing her up and down the corridors of the hospital in her wheelchair, joking, and playing games. They call her “The Darling of the Ward.”