Born without all four limbs due to a rare congenital condition known as tetra-amelia, little Mustafa faces challenges most people can scarcely imagine. Every day he looks up at his father and asks one simple question: “When can I go to school like other children?” His father, Munzir El Nezzel, who lost his own leg in a bomb attack during the Syrian war, can only hold him close and gently tell him to wait until he grows older—even though both know the path is far from simple.

Mustafa’s condition is believed to have resulted from medications his mother took while pregnant after being exposed to nerve gas amid the fighting in Syria. Munzir lost his right leg in a market bombing in Idlib in 2014. The family fled the conflict and lived as refugees in Turkey, where daily life was shaped by physical limitations, limited medical access, and the quiet determination to keep going. Despite everything, the bond between father and son remained unbreakable. An iconic photograph taken by Turkish photographer Mehmet Aslan captured Munzir on crutches lifting his smiling son high into the air. The image, titled “Hardship of Life,” won Photo of the Year at the Siena International Photo Awards and touched people around the world.

That single photograph changed their trajectory. Crowdfunding efforts raised approximately 100,000 euros, opening the door to prosthetic care and a new beginning. In January 2022 the family—Munzir, Mustafa, his mother, and two younger sisters—arrived in Italy on a humanitarian visa. They settled in the Tuscany region, where specialists at the Centro Protesi Inail began designing artificial limbs for both father and son. For Munzir, recovery of much of his mobility was expected relatively quickly. For Mustafa, the process would be longer and more complex, starting with upper-limb prosthetics and eventually addressing mobility around his hips.

Throughout the upheaval, Mustafa’s simple wish never faded. He has spoken of wanting to go to school, to ride in a car, even to attend university one day. Munzir’s deepest hopes have always centered on his children receiving an education and on one day receiving a hug from his son—prosthetic limbs and all. Their story is not only about the physical scars left by war and a rare medical condition, but about a father’s steady presence and a child’s persistent dream of belonging in the ordinary world of classrooms and play.

Even as they navigate new treatments and a new country, the everyday moments of affection and resilience continue. In a world that often measures possibility by what is missing, Munzir and Mustafa keep showing what remains possible when love refuses to yield.

Sources Al Jazeera: “Limbless Syrian boy in iconic photo starts new life in Italy”