Filed from Mosul, this story originally ran Dec. 18, 2005, in the News-Miner.
Spc. Lucas Crowe didn’t know what to expect Saturday when he arrived at the home of 2-year-old Muhammad.
Two days earlier, Crowe revived the boy after he nearly drowned in a flooded basement. He hadn’t gotten word on whether Muhammad was still alive or suffering lasting effects after he was taken to a hospital by Iraqi paramedics.
Crowe and other soldiers from the 2-1 visited the family’s home Saturday in hopes of finding out how the boy was doing. They didn’t know if he was still in the hospital or not. But Crowe was relieved to find Muhammad wrapped in a pink fluffy blanket and sleeping in his father’s arms as Crowe and the other soldiers entered the family’s yard.
“He looks good,” Crowe said, smiling and greeting the family as they crowded around.
The near-drowning took place Thursday as U.S. troops were actively patrolling areas near polling places on election day.
A cousin of Muhammad’s said she heard the boy crying from the basement and went downstairs to investigate. She immediately called for her husband, who pulled the boy from the standing water and carried him outside to find help.
“Suddenly we find the coalition forces,” she said through an interpreter. “We saw the coalition forces and yelled, “Baby! Baby!”
Troops with the 2-1’s tactical unit responded. Crowe said it took him about 15 seconds to get Muhammad breathing again after using back blows to clear his airway of water. He said the water was easily expelled and the boy began breathing on his own again.
“I turned him over and God knocked the water out,” Crowe said.
Crowe and the soldiers called the paramedics and waited until they took the boy to the hospital.
Crowe said he didn’t know how long the boy had been without oxygen before reviving him. When he first saw Muhammad sleeping in his father’s arms Saturday, he said he worried the boy might not have fully recovered.
But the boy’s father said Muhammad had just stayed overnight in the hospital. He had been playing and eating about an hour before the troops’ visit and was just taking a nap. Doctors at the hospital told the family, who asked not to be identified by name, that Muhammad is healthy.
“Everything is good,” Muhammad’s cousin said. “This is big happiness for us.”
Many members of Muhammad’s extended family were also present Saturday because Muhammad’s mother had just given birth to a baby boy. She was resting Saturday afternoon and family members said they still had not told her what had happened to Muhammad because she was in labor at the same hospital at the time.
As the extended family gathered around troops, the soldiers passed out stuffed animals, soccer balls and children’s clothes they had brought for Muhammad and his family.
After Crowe kissed the boy’s forehead and was on his way back to base with the soldiers, he said he was relieved the boy had fully recovered. He was most worried about the hypothermia that set in after the boy was pulled from the water.
“That’s what I was concerned about, having been without oxygen for long,” he said. “But he was far warmer today. I felt his head and he felt like a little boy should.”
Crowe said following up on Muhammad’s condition was a rare treat.
“I’ve treated people before and we take them to the hospital and never get any word back on their conditions,” he said. “That’s what is unique about this, to see the outcome of the treatment.”
Crowe, a 26-year-old Pennsylvania native, was a nurse’s aide and attended nursing school before joining the Army 2 1/2 years ago. He said Muhammad’s accident exemplified his reason for joining the Army.
“At this point I’m doing what I joined up to do,” he said.
But he said what happened with Muhammad is not uncommon for Army medics. Crowe and other medics often treat Iraqis, usually when a civilian is caught between an insurgent attack on troops or from injuries due to improvised explosive devices, but also when other ailments occur and medics are available.
“This kind of thing happens a lot, treating Iraqi civilians,” he said. “It is not an isolated incident.”