Lifesaving Nitric Oxide Fund To Reduce Pulmonary Hypertension In addition to being a by-product of cigarette smoke and rush hour traffic, nitric oxide is used in pediatric intensive care. The inner lining of blood vessels uses nitric oxide to signal the surrounding smooth muscle to relax, thereby increasing blood flow. By dilating the veins there is less blood returned to the heart, thereby decreasing the heart's work. We've been using this frequently after surgery with our kids and it has been critical to our lifesaving work. Please give today to ensure that these surgeries are not in vain - that we are able to deal with both the cause and the effects of congenital heart disease in these dear Iraqi children. Molecule of the Year (1992) - Nitric Oxide

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Jeremy Courtney Co-Founder, President Preemptive Love Coalition (Twitter: @jeremy_courtney)

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Mohammad Coloring Pictures in His Room - Fit to Fly Home to Iraq Tomorrow Morning

November 9, 2009 by Jeremy 

We told you in the amazing film of Mohammad’s surgery - made by PLC’s Joshua Gigliotti - about Mohammad’s mother’s tears and the weight of the burden that it is to entrust your only son to foreigners, in a foreign land, and to have your only access to life-saving services taking place in a foreign language. And though we told you that weight was lifted, there is still another weight that always remains: the weight of loneliness in having to bear all these life-and-death decisions without your spouse.

It’s not uncommon for other programs in the region to take children out of the country for months or more at a time. The logistics of scheduling surgeries with other hospitals and different policies about finances often cause Iraqi families themselves to be put in an even harder position in pursuit of life-saving solutions.

This is yet another reason why we are so grateful for all the amazing staff at the Anadolu Medical Center. They make scheduling, pricing, planning, and every other form of logistics so unbelievably easy that we cannot help but save more lives because of it. Because of them we are able to serve more of the riskiest of children, faster, and cheaper than many other programs in the region - and far better than we ever dreamed possible.

The upshot is that Mohammad is going home to his dad tomorrow. His mother is not going to be kept on this surgical sojourner any longer than was absolutely necessary. And Mohammad is one step closer to getting back to Iraq to go to school and beginning pursuing his big dreams!

Exactly one week after leaving his home country for surgery, Mohammad will be resting at home!

Follow 11-year-old Mohammad on Twitter: @mohammadstar. Subscribe to Mohammad updates via RSS HERE. Follow Mohammad’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.

Jeremy Courtney lives and loves in Iraq as a co-founder and Executive Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He's also the father of two spectacular children, and married to the lovely Jessica Courtney. When not absorbed in PLC work he can be found writing songs and singing about hope and future.

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