Farah's Story: Tragedy and Triumph

March 29, 2005 -- -- Farah Ahmedi, now 17, is the second of three finalists in the "Good Morning America"/Simon & Schuster "Story of My Life" contest.

Hers is a story about love, family, hope and some angels that helped her along the way.

Despite the dangers that surrounded Farah as she grew up in war-torn Afghanistan, she says she loved her family and her life.

"We had this gorgeous house and our family and business," she remembered.

But one day, as 7-year-old Farah made her way to school, as she had done so many times before, the unthinkable happened.

"It was a … bright light and the ground just shook," she said.

Farah had stepped on a land mine.

"I started screaming, 'Help me, help me!' " she recalled.

Then, Farah says, an angel appeared -- in the form of a neighbor who got her to the hospital just in the nick of time.

The child was bleeding and her legs were so badly mangled that she was rushed to another hospital -- this one in Germany -- by a relief agency working in the area.

Doctors in Germany were forced to fuse the girl's right leg -- making it permanently unbendable -- and they also had to amputate her left leg below the knee.

"I couldn't cry," she said. "It was so shocking to me."

Farah was alone in Germany for two years, with no visitors. Her mother, Fatima, had only a lock of her daughter's hair to remember her.

"I was crying every day," Farah said.

Alone and suffering, Farah says another "angel" entered her life -- a woman she only knows as Christina.

Christina had a son in the hospital at the time and when she heard Farah crying, she felt compelled to dry her tears and offer the lonely child some comfort.

Farah knows little about this angel, except her first name and the peace she gave her.

After 2 ½ years in Germany, Farah was finally able to return home to Afghanistan and her beloved family.

Overjoyed to be back home, Farah's excitement soon subsided as the sound of rocket attacks echoed through the streets on a daily basis.