Junior Lawan Rasul has lived in Harrisonburg his entire life. He was born in RMH on June 30th, 2000. Although Rasul was born in a peaceful community, his heritage was not as lucky as him.

“My dad [Majed Rasul] first went to Guam as part of a refugee program, and then to the Philippines for about a week, and then he came to America and settled in Maryland. He eventually gathered up a bunch of Kurds and came down to Harrisonburg, which is partially why we have such a large Kurdish community here,” Rasul said.

A year after Rasul’s father arrived, he returned back to Kurdistan and met his wife and soon-to-be Rasul’s mother.

“He married her and brought back my mom. That was in 1996. About a year after I was born, my brother, Khozeen Rasul was born. We found out he had Cerebral Palsy a couple weeks after he was born,” Rasul said.

Cerebral Palsy is a neurological disorder that affects the person’s brain development and their physical abilities. There are around 200,000 cases diagnosed in the U.S. every year.

“He’s 15 now. He goes to Spotswood because they have a special education program over there. He goes to school most of the day, but when he comes home, my dad feeds him and then lays him down. [My dad] will occasionally pick him up and kind of move him around for a little exercise so his bones don’t decay,” Rasul said.

Every day after school, Rasul goes home to help his dad tend to Khozeen. He weighs around 80 pounds, so Rasul’s dad has trouble carrying and helping Khozeen.

“He pretty much can’t do anything. The way we take care of him at home is we just lay him in his bed and occasionally feed him. He has an IV machine which gives him nutrients because he can’t really eat. That’s the hardest thing. My parents both have back problems; my mom has knee problems and my dad recently went through bypass heart surgery, so I have to take care of him. I can’t really go out with my friends a whole lot. I have to stay at home and take care of my brother,” Rasul said.

Khozeen was diagnosed when he was 3 weeks old. Kozheen’s mother, Rezan Rasul, went to the doctor and told them that Khozeen wasn’t developing properly. The doctor said he would develop soon, but it didn’t happen. On one of those visits, the doctor noticed an indentation in Khozeen’s skull. He was taken to the hospital for more than three weeks.

“My family had to go to court in around 2002 because they thought we were abusing him. They thought [it was] the reason he has Cerebral Palsy. There were also things going on in Kurdistan at the same time with my grandfather. He was really sick. I can remember my parents coming home and just crying, especially my mom,” Rasul said.

Rasul finds it hard for him and his family to interact with their community and do the things most families can do, like go out to dinner and travel.

“We went back to Kurdistan this summer and we had to buy him his own separate seat, but then he was in our dad’s hands the entire time,” Rasul said.

Khozeen is blind in one eye and nearly blind in the other. Because of this, he has to find enjoyment in other things.

“Khozeen really enjoys going to the park and listening to all of the kids play. He loves the sounds and when he starts to get excited, I get really happy too,” Rasul said.

Both sides of Khozeen’s brain are dead, leaving him unable to communicate with his family. He essentially has no reactions.

“We can’t communicate with him at all. It really gets to me. Like, why us? Why did it have to be us that this happened to?” Rasul said.

Khozeen’s needs don’t only interfere with Rasul’s home life, it can sometimes restrict what he can do after school.

“Sometimes when I have to stay after for school, it’s really hard for my dad to come pick me up because my mom works in the afternoons and he has to look after my brother. My dad works in the mornings, so my mom can look after him then. I also have a little brother who is about to turn nine and a little sister who is about to turn three. It’s a lot,” Rasul said.

It is unclear on how long Khozeen will live, but Rasul is confident that he will live long enough that eventually, Rasul will be able to care for him by himself.

“In the future, when I can settle down, I really just want to take care of him myself,” Rasul said. “I can’t make a career out of it, but I just want to dedicate myself to him. I feel like I have to. He didn’t choose to be [this] way. It could have been any of us, and if it happened to you, you would want someone to help.”