'I kept going': After blindness and cancer, UT student fulfills PhD dream

'I kept going': After blindness and cancer, UT student fulfills PhD dream 
Ausint American-Statemen, Austin, TX; by Lily Kepner and Nicole Villalpando; 5/18/2025 
Qusay Hussein has dedicated his life to advocating for refugees, marginalized people and those with disabilities. For almost a decade, he chose to drive that change at the University of Texas. Hussein is an education advocate and a doctoral student at the [University of Texas] Steve Hicks School of Social Work. He received the highest degree in the field this month, having overcome seemingly impossible barriers: a suicide bombing in Mosul, Iraq, in 2006 that left him blind and his face severely damaged; 70 reconstruction surgeries; and immigrating to the U.S. He recently finished his first book about his early years and the bombing: "Can You Open My Eyes?" He's currently writing a second book, "Between Two Worlds: From Refugee to Ph.D." ... After battling terminal kidney cancer the last two years, his dream - he told his doctors - was to walk across the graduation stage May 10, honoring the promise he made to his father that he would come to the U.S. and get an education.