He arrived over the weekend.

Ammar Muhammed, 5, isn't squatting to get a different view of the world. He's doing it so he can survive.

"This squatting is an old fashioned mechanism of how children are before they have an operation to help get blood back into their heart," explains Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Andy Atz.  

Ammar was born with a condition known as Tetralogy of Fallot, named by a Frenchman that describes four abnormalities in the heart. This condition is diagnosed in American born babies at two-months-old and repaired at six months. Remarkably Ammar has lived with this defect for five years. He's smaller than the average child his age and his activity is limited. But his heart can be repaired.

"We would feel best being able to completely correct the physiology in a way that we think he'll be able to not require further surgery for the rest of his life," Dr. Atz said.

Ammar's trip to Charleston came about through a Citadel connection. Ammar's father, Hammad is a Lieutenant in the Iraqi police which is attached to a U.S. marine unit commanded by a Citadel graduate.

“His name is Kevin Jarrard and I knew Kevin because I served on the board of visitors at the Citadel when Kevin graduated. One thing led to another. He remembered my name,” said Steve Peper from the East Cooper Breakfast Rotary club. 

Steve contacted Rotary International, the organization offering grant money to help children with life threatening conditions come to the U.S. Steve and his family  are serving as hosts and have found a unique way around the language barrier.

“There is actually software that you can access over the internet and you can type into it English and it will convert to Arabic instantaneously,” Steve said.

Young Ammar is scheduled for surgery in the next week to week and a half. Doctors say his hospital stay is about four to five days. Then he'll stay in the country another two to three months before he goes back home.

A local businessman and several doctors fluent in Arabic are also helping with translation.