In a quiet Beirut clinic, 6-year-old Kenzi Madhoun walks in with striking dark-brown eyes, a white tassel dress, and a pink straw hat perched over a scar on her forehead. She looks like any child ready to play dress-up… except her right arm is missing.
Kenzi has endured multiple surgeries in Egypt and Turkey, but her father, Adam Madhoun, believes that Lebanon may hold new hope. “All I want is for her to live like any other child… to play games, to dress herself, to enjoy life,” he says with quiet determination.
Their journey has brought them to Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a world-renowned reconstructive surgeon and professor of conflict medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. For over three decades, Dr. Abu-Sittah has dedicated his life to healing children scarred by war… thousands of them, each carrying physical and emotional wounds.
As he greets Kenzi, his focus is not just on her missing limb but also on her future. “The question is how to strengthen what remains of her arm,” he explains. “Because that determines the success of any prosthetic she will receive.”
He doesn’t just see Kenzi as a 6-year-old. He envisions her at 18… a young woman still growing, still changing, and still needing surgeries to keep pace with her body’s development.
For Kenzi, the battle is not only medical but personal. Even simple daily joys… playing games that require two hands, putting on her favorite clothes… can be overwhelming without the right support. Yet she moves with confidence, walking beside Dr. Abu-Sittah as if determined to prove she is more than her injury.
Her story reflects the reality of countless children from Gaza and other war-torn regions: the fight to reclaim childhood after unimaginable loss.
