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Aria & Rebar Now Fully Funded!

December 31, 2007 by Jeremy · 2 Comments 

Aria, 2 years old from Northern Iraq

Doctors at the October screening in Jordan found that little Aria has the features of Down Syndrome and six fingers on his right hand, as well as a heart defect commonly found in Down children. He can overcome the heart defect with surgery which should allow him to grow into adulthood. Aria arrived safely in Israel today and is awaiting surgery!

Rebar, 3 years old from Northern Iraq

Rebar was born with a large hole between the ventricles of his heart. An Israeli cardiologist who saw him in October in Jordan put him down for “intervention in near future” due to the risk that developing pulmonary hypertension could leave him inoperable. He has reached Jordan and is waiting for transfer across the river into Israel.

Click here to see other kids we’ve helped in their journey.

         

Arya + Three Reach Israel as Year Turns

December 31, 2007 by admin · Leave a Comment 

After a very long day of riding and waiting, these dear children and their mothers arrived in Israel at about 8:30 this evening.  When we entered the Israeli terminal, a long passport control session was necessary for all 9 of us, and we happily exited into the main terminal about an hour later. We posed for a group picture before climbing into our waiting “chariot” to go to Jerusalem; you can see between Alex and I, from L to R, Hardi, Arya, Baveel, and Juliana, and their moms. This dear family are just about to enter a season of intensity in their lives while they have their hopes realized, even while their fears peak, when their respective children undergo surgery.

         

Blooming Before Our Eyes

December 24, 2007 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Hussein, his mother and I played with stickers, a puzzle and a boat during our visit, and I believe I heard him laugh more today than at any time since we met back in October. Even though it may seem an exaggeration to say this, it appears to me that Hussein’s eye-hand coordination has already made dramatic improvement compared to previous playtimes together. It is almost as though he is “blooming” before our eyes as he gets well.

His mother is also a different woman; she is very happy now that Hussein is healing, and she is continuously pausing to thank God for the life of her son.

         

BSSL on CBS 42 in Austin, TX

December 21, 2007 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

This is not the story the way the reporter envisioned it, but we are happy to have been included in the piece and grateful to Austin Monthly and Jason Wheeler for their tremendous help in getting the word out!

         

Second Surgery This Morning

December 18, 2007 by admin · Leave a Comment 

When I arrived at the hospital I found out that Hussein had yet another surgery this morning! The doctors had hoped to do an arterial switch on Hussein’s heart yesterday, and worked for five hours trying to make it succeed, but in the words of Dr. Houri, his body rejected it. Because of this, a second surgery was needed very soon to perform an atrial switch instead. The surgery was done successfully this morning, and Hussein is now stable and still sedated and intubated in the ICU. If all goes well, they hope to remove the breathing tube tomorrow.

I shared with his concerned mom that Dr. Houri said he is doing well, and will not need more surgery at this time. She remarked about the oxygenation rate of 99-100% on the monitor above Hussein’s bed, and showed me the evidence of good oxygenation - pink fingernails! I had already noticed that Hussein’s coloring is different because of this oxygenated blood available to his body.

As you might imagine, Hussein’s mother has not had sleep for the last two nights. She is very tired, and I encouraged her to sleep tonight while Hussein is sleeping peacefully under sedation. After he awakes, it will be harder for her to be away from him so she can sleep.

         

Stable After Seven-Hour Surgery

December 17, 2007 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Once I arrived at the entrance to the operating room waiting area, someone was very nice in punching in the code for the doors to open so I could go in. I recognised Mustafa’s mother - she speaks English and she was so happy to see me.  Mustafa’s mother told me that she and Rayan’s mother decided to accompany Hussein’s mother to the hospital as she would be alone for a long time while Hussein was being operated on. We sat there waiting for a while and then one of the nurses who was in the operating room with the first operation came out and talked with Mustafa’s mother and me, and said it would be a long time before Hussein’s mother comes outside, so we should go and have something to eat.
Tonight she reported that Hussein came out of surgery around 7:30 p.m. Hussein is currently stable in the ICU.

         

Aras and Dilshad in Israel Awaiting Heart Surgery

December 17, 2007 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

What do little boys with heart problems do while waiting for heart surgery? Apparently they ride their bikes much like other little boys do…

The boys are sick and need help… but they don’t let that stop them from having fun and living a full life while they can. It’s so fun to see the way they just go for it and live it up; emotionally uninhibited by the setbacks they face! Would that we all were so vivacious and resilient!Thanks for all you do. Soon these boys won’t have to monitor the duration of their bike rides quite so closely, inshallah (God willing)!

         

Update:  Hussein to Surgery Monday Morning

December 16, 2007 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Hussein’s long-postponed surgery has been rescheduled for Monday morning. Watch this space Monday evening for a full update if his surgery takes place. The photo above was taken of Hussein and Mustafa as Hussein was leaving the hospital last week.

         

“Buy Anything. Save Lives.” at iGive.com

December 14, 2007 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

Buy Anything? Save Lives?

For some of you, it may already seem ludicrous that buying shoes could in any way be connected to saving lives. And now we are about to tell you that buying just about anything can help to save lives.

We recently stumbled across a New York Times article that tipped us off to a website that makes a percentage donation from any purchase on participating partner webstores to a cause of your choice (Buy Shoes. Save Lives., anyone?).

All you have to do is go to iGive.com, register as a user, and then use their website to navigate to hundreds of well known online retailers. That means when you go shopping at say, Gap.com or iTunes or HomeDepot.com or Expedia or buy.com, a small percentage of every purchase will be given to Buy Shoes. Save Lives.

The percentage donated usually ranges between 1-4%—certainly nothing like the 50+% to fund heart surgeries when you buy handmade shoes or stylin’ tees through our website—but this is a case where money is time and every penny counts when you’re trying to save the lives of Iraqi kids.

And when Americans spend over $100 billion (and growing) each year buying things online, we’d be more than willing to put a paltry one percent of that towards saving lives and investing in the local economy here.

So before you buy those last minute Christmas gifts online, go register at iGive.com and designate BSSL as your cause (No. 44486). Then anytime you shop online, make sure that you stop by iGive first to see if you can shop through a store that will let you buy anything to save lives.

Compassionate capitalism, anyone?

         

BSSL in Covered in Austin Monthly

December 13, 2007 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

Austin Monthly’s coverage of BSSL as some sort of “philanthropic superhero” doing “cool” things to change the world is on news stands now in the Austin area. We think we are outshone by the other 4 coverstory profiles ($100 laptops for kids in Africa!?!?!?!), but we are so grateful to have been included!

Thanks to Melissa, Robyn, and Lynn at Austin Monthly for all of your hard work. Photography by the phenomenal Matthew Rainwaters can be considered here.

         

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