She lost her leg and eye to an airstrike in Gaza, but thanks to help from Bay Area medical specialists, a 19-year-old Palestinian is on the road to recovery.
Farah Ammar lost her eye in October 2023 when a bomb hit the home of the family she was staying with in Gaza. On Tuesday, she got her new eye.
Watch NBC Bay Area News free wherever you are
WATCH HEREAmmar was in tears as she took a first look at the new eye in the mirror. Her Bay Area host translated her reaction.
"First she was nervous, but then she realized that she has two eyes, so now she can actually put makeup [on] again," the translator said. "She's a makeup artist, so she knows how to do it very well. She got very excited, very happy."
This marked the final step of a long Bay Area medical journey that began last year. Ammar also lost her leg in the bombing.
A Walnut Creek doctor built a prosthetic leg for her, and another East Bay doctor performed two surgeries on her fractured hand.
Nonprofit Heal Palestine coordinated the procedures, and the doctors volunteered their time.
Local
"We bring children here to the United States to help them, whether it's receiving prosthetic limbs, whether it's, in Farah's case, receiving a prosthetic limb, surgery on her hand as well as a prosthesis for her eye," said Talha Baqar with Heal Palestine. "There's schooling involved, so getting kids education that they haven't been able to while they're here for treatment."
Ammar said she felt like she's starting to look like her old self again, thanks in part to painstaking medical work that all started with an impression of her eye socket.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news with the Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
SIGN UP "From that impression we fabricate a shape, insert it into the socket, and then we sculpt it to get it to open properly, to match the companion eye," ocularist Raymond Rendon said. "On the final visit, we paint it like a portrait to match the color of the other eye."
Ammar's mother has been by her daughter's side the entire time and said she's grateful for the Bay Area medical team.
But the need in Gaza continues to grow. Heal Palestine said at least 1,000 more children are still on the waiting list.
