Muslim Man Fostered Over 80 Terminal Children
The Claim
A Muslim man in Los Angeles, Mohamed Bzeek, has cared for more than eighty terminal children.
News posted on
Emerging story
On Eid al-Fitr, users across social media reposted a 2017 viral article featured in the LA times and a 2019 video on Al Jazeera’s the Secret Lives of Muslims about an LA resident who fosters terminal children. On May 24, 2020, @xfrhnx wrote, “Mr. Mohammad Bezek [sic]. A legend, restoring faith in humanity.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Mohamed Bzeek is a practicing Muslim who lives in Los Angeles. Our investigation verifies that he has spent two decades fostering children. He chooses to take in the “sickest of the sick” in Los Angeles County’s foster care system and has buried at least ten children. Although some of the children he fosters are completely nonverbal, he still spends time with them so that they know there is someone there for them. The following is from an interview with NPR:
Less than two percent of the children under the care of Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services are part of its Medical Case Management Services, which provides assistance for children with extreme medical needs. Many of these children end up on hospice. DCFS intake coordinator Melissa Testerman noted that finding foster parents for these children is usually a struggle, but that Bzeek provides a service many others do not. She said, “If anyone ever calls us and says, ‘This kid needs to go home on hospice,’ there’s only one name we think of. He’s the only one that would take a child who would possibly not make it.”
Bzeek was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016, and his story went viral yet again when a GoFundMe campaign opened to help provide him and his family with financial support. He credits his faith with providing him the strength he needs to continue fostering.
