Mohammed Al-Jumaili 2013 Health Leader Mohammed Al-Jumaili, who lost a leg in an Iraqi car bombing when he was 11 years old, is a student at Rosemont College and a community volunteer. For Mohammed Al-Jumaili, life has changed in the five years since he was recognized as a health leader by Healthy NewsWorks. In 2013, he was 18 and had been in the United States for four years. He had received an artificial leg and undergone multiple surgeries. Because he was thankful for his new life, Mr. Al-Jumaili volunteered a lot in the community. Since graduating from high school, Mr. Al-Jumaili has studied government at Valley Forge Military Academy and College. He is now pursuing a degree in international business at Rosemont College. He visits children at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, where he was treated after he lost his leg. He says the children there get lonely, and he wants to give them hope that better times lie ahead. 29 Visit our archives All prior editions of Leading Healthy Change in Our Communities are available online at www.HealthyNewsWorks.org. “I know how hard and tough it is to be in the hospital, dealing with surgery,” he says. Mr. Al-Jumaili says he is comfortable in America because he doesn’t have the kinds of problems that his family had in Iraq. But he misses Iraq. “I miss my friends and family,” he says. Right now, Mr. Al-Jumaili’s family is working to adopt his eight-month-old nephew, Abdullah, and bring him to the United States. In the next five years Mr. Al-Jumaili would like to finish college and maybe work for the United States government overseas. His advice to students? Work hard at school and at home. “The future is in your hands,” he says. — By Na’im Grady, Kevin Mendoza, Vanessa Resendiz, Arleth Sanchez Romero, Allison Silverio, and Keymoni Thornton Gotwals Healthy Press