Coach McMillan and the Trail Blazers hosted Mustafa Ahmed Abed at Tuesday’s practice and got a lesson in soccer in return. Mustafa, a six year old from Fallujah, Iraq, who lost his left leg when he was two, was in town to be fitted for a prosthetic at local Shriners Hospital.

“He had some major, extensive surgery done here at Dorenbecher,” said Ned Rosch, a volunteer with No More Victims, a group that his hosting Mustafa and his father. “He had a stone removed from his bladder that was the size of an egg.

“At Shriners he received a wheelchair and a walker. And then to everybody’s surprise, even though initially doctors said it couldn’t be done, Shriners found a way to build him a prosthetic leg, so he’s now learning to walk with an artificial leg."

After touring the practice facility and meeting members from the Trail Blazers, Mustafa who loves soccer and racing, got out of his wheelchair to demonstrate his extraordinary kicking ability - lining kick after kick past anyone who tried to defend him.

“He is exuberant, he’s courageous, and he’s a fighter,” said Rosch. “He survived a surgery after the attack were the doctors gave him a one percent chance of surviving. He survived with pain for four years until he came to Portland. He received phenomenal treatment at Doernbecher and Shriners. He’s pain-free and he’s just an exuberant kid.

No More Victims is an organization dedicated to obtaining medical sponsorships for war-injured Iraqi children and to forge ties between children, their families, and communities in the United States.

“We heard about Mustafa on a television show about an organization that brought young children that were injured in the Iraq war to the U.S.,” said Rosch. “So we organized a group of people in Portland to do that. He arrived on September 9th and it has been an incredible journey of getting him healthy and all of us falling in love with this sweet little boy.”

Go here to learn more about the Trail Blazers efforts to "Make It Better."