Boy who could only crawl gets power chair

Nine-year-old suffers from a rare form of muscular dystrophy.

Haji Mada, 9, was all smiles as his sister wheeled him out of his East Austin apartment Thursday. He was about to try out his new electric wheelchair and taste freedom he had lost when he stopped walking more than a year ago.

“Look at what we’ve got for you,” said Britt Sitzes of National Seating & Mobility, which helped retrofit the wheelchair for Haji.

“Yes!” Haji said in a rare moment of speaking.

Haji and his family are part of the Statesman Season for Caring campaign, which features the stories of a dozen Central Texas families and helps hundreds of other families through local nonprofit agencies.

His family was nominated by Caritas of Austin.

Haji has a rare form of muscular dystrophy that has taken away his ability to stand, walk, run and play with his sisters and his peers.

Doctors in the Kenyan refugee camp where he was born did not know what disorder he had, and it was only after resettling in Austin about a year ago that his mother, Hawa Hassan, finally had answers.

It’s not clear how Haji’s condition will progress in the years to come. Hassan said her brother had a similar condition and did not live past the age of 25.

In the meantime, Hassan wants Haji to enjoy his childhood as much as he can. Through a translator, Hassan said the electric wheelchair means Haji won’t have to rely on someone else to push him around anymore, and he won’t have to crawl around on the floor as much. Before Haji received the electric wheelchair, Hassan had wanted thicker rugs for their apartment floors so that