A Conshohocken Man Who Was From Iraq And Catastrophically Injured As A Child Writes Book

CONSHOHOCKEN, PA — Hisham Mohammed was a young boy back in 2006 in his native Iraq doing what young kids do — hanging out and socializing with his brothers and their friends in their Ramadi neighborhood.

What came next, however, changed the course of his life forever.

Mohammed, then 8 years old, was catastrophically injured when a bomb exploded near the area outside of his home where he was hanging out at the time.

The date was March 22, 2006, one that he'll never forget. It was the day that Mohammed became paralyzed from the neck down, the devastating injury causing him to be confined to a specialized wheelchair.

Fast forward to 2022, and Mohammed is a 24-year-old Montgomery County resident living with his parents in their Conshohocken home. The family relocated to the U.S. soon after Mohammed's injury.

Mohammed — smart, funny, caring and optimistic — maintains an impressively positive outlook on life given his difficult circumstances.

He recently published his autobiography, The Deadly Silence, which was co-written alongside author G. Ross Kelly, a project that was years in the making.

The idea for a book dates back to the time Mohammed was in middle school.

"I know I wanted our story to tell people about war and peace," Mohammed said in an interview with Patch. "I wanted our cause to raise awareness of that."

In his younger years, Mohammed said his ultimate goal was to eliminate all wars in the world, but as he grew older, reality set in, and he decided to take baby steps and try to attain more incremental and realistic goals.

"There's always going to be violence, there's always going to be trouble," Mohammed said.

At the same time, through books like his, people can start to learn ways in which they can coexist peacefully alongside one another.

Mohammed said he had two main goals in publishing his story: to make society aware of the detrimental effects that war can have on innocent civilians like himself and his family, and to raise a greater understanding of how things really are in the Middle East.

Mohammed said many Americans, through no fault of their own, are given an unfair picture of that region of the world due to mass media coverage and statements from politicians.

He said Middle Eastern culture and the religion of Islam are often misunderstood in the American media and his goal is to make Americans aware of the fact that Islam is indeed a religion of peace and love and that the Iraqi people are just like any other group of people.

"Most people are welcoming and friendly," Mohammed said.

After receiving medical treatment at various facilities in Iraq and Jordan, Mohammed came to the U.S. with his mom for a few months back in the summer of 2007 to get medical care and rehabilitative therapy at the Ronald McDonald House and Shriner's Hospital.

He then went back to Jordan to be with the rest of his family and the following year he, his three brothers, and their mother and father all made the permanent move to the United States.

The family ended up in Montgomery County, where they reside to this day.

Mohammed, who is a quadriplegic, is incredibly inspiring in the things he says and his generalized outlook on life given his circumstances.

Growing up, all he knew of America was the country's military, since his interactions were limited to military personnel. But when the family moved to the U.S., he realized how people here were friendly and willing to listen and lend a helping hand. It changed his perception of Americans for the better.

"We know there are corrupt politicians in every country," he said.

Many civilians he has encountered, however, are decent and strive to be good human beings.

This change in attitude started with the America doctors who came to his aid, the teachers and fellow students at American schools who helped ease his transition, and the neighbors and friends who started coming into his family's lives.

"It really made my experience better and eased my adjustment to this country," he said.

Mohammed, who is a graduate of Upper Merion High School, said the process to find an author to help co-write his story was a little trying, since he and his family met with a number of different writers before settling on G. Ross Kelly.

Kelly, he said, was talented, knowledgeable and experienced, and helped make the process to get the book published and available for public consumption smooth.

For now, Mohammed is hoping folks will pick up a copy of his book and learn a little bit about his family's story, but also about the importance of working toward peace, on a local and global scale.