read our blog »

1: What are you trying to accomplish?
2: What's your evidence that you can accomplish it?
3: How is it possible that you can provide an open heart surgery in Iraq for less than $1,000? Is that the full cost?
4: So is that the same thing as saying that my donation doesn't really make a difference? That the "up to 85%" funded locally by those inside Iraq is all that is really necessary to make this work?
5: Any other costs?
6: What is the bottleneck to more surgeries: money or skilled labor?
7: I'm skeptical of non-profits and charities because they always seem to be asking for more money. How can I be sure that Preemptive Love Coalition has "room for more funding" and that I'm not paying into a huge savings account, "Rainy Day Fund", or something similar?
8: Do you have enough volunteer surgeons available for unfunded Remedy Missions? (i.e., are there trips that you could fund if you had more money, or is there a labor bottleneck?)
9: Many heart surgeries require follow-up treatment (including additional surgeries). Do you have a way of providing these to patients?
10: How do you assess whether surgeries are completed competently and appropriately?
11: What is the rate of complications during and following surgery?
12: How do you assess whether surgeons are performing additional surgeries that they would have not had the funding or motivation to perform otherwise?
13: How do you assess whether surgeons are charging their patients for the surgeries you fund?
14: Do you follow up with the surgeons you've trained to assess whether they are correctly applying their training?
15: What information is available on the activities - and competence - of the surgeons you've trained?
16: Where do surgeons work after completing training? Do they serve poor patients?
17: How much do you spend each year on "program" expenses and how much on "overhead?"

----------

Q: What are you trying to accomplish?

A: Train Iraqi heart surgeons and nurses so they can eradicate the backlog of tens of thousands of Iraqi children waiting in line for lifesaving heart surgery. [Back to Top]

Q: What's your evidence that you can accomplish it?

A: Each year we continue to increase Iraq's total number of pediatric cardiac surgeries with new surgeries in Iraqi centers that would not - indeed could not - have been accomplished otherwise. Ministry of Health (MOH) officials speculate 500 surgeries were accomplished in 2009 (of which we provided 23 - 4.6% - outside the country). The addition of our 82 surgeries in FY 2010 - to the 500 baseline - for a total of 582 approximated surgeries, represents an increase created by PLC of 14% over 2009. In FY 2011 we anticipate increasing Iraq's total number of pediatric cardiac surgeries to at least 719 (or another 19% over FY 2010 directly attributable to our surgeons and our training).

Each year the local teams with which we work will become more proficient, and each year they will independently take on a larger case load than they could have the year before. None of these figures yet account for that additional output.

In March 2010 the Iraqi Ministry of Health asked us to expand our work to three additional sites. In May 2010 we began additional discussions about establishing a fellowship program in which international surgeons and nurses would take up residence in the Iraqi system to train locally for 40 weeks out of the year.

Our model does not rely strictly on volunteers because the level of need in Iraq outstrips what we could reasonably supply through volunteer labor alone. Accordingly, we set our budgets so as to actually contract the international surgical and nursing staff we need to accomplish our mission.

Sure, this increases the cost-per-mission (and thereby, cost-per-child) over early "mission" models in which volunteerism was idealized and training was not necessarily prioritized. But our contract labor + volunteerism model is inarguably the only way to create a nationwide quarterly training program and fellowships inside Iraq with international experts across approximately 6-8 surgical sites. Moreover, our model does not face the same sluggishness of learning that other surgery organizations suffer because we do not have the same rates of turnover; we have incredible consistency across our programs and missions. [Back to Top]

Q: How is it possible that you can provide an open heart surgery in Iraq for less than $1,000? Is that the full cost?

A: The "less than $1k" numbers we routinely publish represent the amount in "program costs" we spend from our international donor money. The figure does not necessarily account for every single management, overhead, or fundraising expense.

Our total expenditures for FY 2010 were $188,919. We performed 82 surgeries during the same period for a per child total of $2,304 (though this data is a bit moot moving into 2010-11 as we abandon our very expensive "surgery exports" program(s) in Turkey, etc. and focus henceforth on more cost-effective in-country surgeries alone).

When all of our Remedy Mission partners are taken into consideration - including the Iraqi Government, medical companies that donate medicines and supplies, and local organizations - the real Remedy Mission cost to all donors is in the range of $5,400 - $7,000. Put another way, up to 85% of the total cost of a single surgical/training mission is now subsidized by local, Iraqi constituent institutions. [Back to Top]

Q: So is that the same thing as saying that my donation doesn't really make a difference? That the "up to 85%" funded locally by those inside Iraq is all that is really necessary to make this work?

A: There is not a single site across Iraq for which our Remedy Missions are fully funded. If we fail to provide our 15-19% of the overall budget, Remedy Missions fail, surgeons and nurses do not get trained regularly, on-site audits from our international team do not happen, up to 20 children are delayed from receiving surgery, and a few may even die or become inoperable. Your role in funding the remaining 15-19% is as critical in the short term as any other entity. A single Remedy Mission is binary - it either happens or it doesn't. Your money makes it happen. But our goal is to continue to graduate all our programs so they are 100% funded locally in the next 5-10 years. [Back to Top]

Q: Any other costs?

A: Our numbers per Remedy Mission do not account for "indirect costs," such as the cost (or value) of our volunteer medical staff from around the world, costs to local healthcare systems, the cost of a family to travel to the surgery site, the opportunity costs of lost income for families as they wait for surgery, etc. The reason we think it's important to note this here is because lifesaving is actually quite difficult. Building a pediatric cardiac surgery system for the entire country of Iraq is laborious and full of complexities. [Back to Top]

Q: What is the bottleneck to more surgeries: money or skilled labor?

A: People often assume that the biggest need is more Iraqi heart surgeons. We could use a few more, but the real bottleneck is skilled nurses, technicians, and non-surgical physicians. A surgeon is only as good as his support staff. One of our biggest challenges is training pediatric cardiac intensive care nurses. To date, we haven't found a better model than our Remedy Missions through which we bring quarterly hands-on training to local nurses (and surgeons) in Iraq. Rather than exporting the nurses to Europe or the USA for training (whose medical systems barely resemble the Iraqi system), we train them with what they have on hand in their local environment. [Back to Top]

Q: I'm skeptical of non-profits and charities because they always seem to be asking for more money. How can I be sure that Preemptive Love Coalition has "room for more funding" and that I'm not paying into a huge savings account, "Rainy Day Fund", or something similar?

A: For the record, we are skeptical of non-profits as well! In 2012 PLC needs $350,000 on hand at any given time to cover our cash flow needs for up to three Remedy Missions per quarter. We are still 30% under-funded against that goal. In addition to cash flow needs, we still require 15-19% funding on most of our missions after local sources contribute their portion; we have un-funded pilot programs in new cities where local doctors have been requesting our help (but where weve yet to woo local philanthropists or health directors); and we have research and social service initiatives through our Followthrough program that require funding at present because we have not yet sought local funding for those initiatives (seeing as how they relate mostly to our Monitoring & Impact Evaluation objectives). Please see our "Funding Gap" page to look deeper into our anticipated program costs, the sources of funding we are counting on, and the funding gap between the two for the next few years. [Back to Top]

Q: Do you have enough volunteer surgeons available for unfunded Remedy Missions? (i.e., are there trips that you could fund if you had more money, or is there a labor bottleneck?)

A: Great question! We use a hybrid volunteer/staff model. Roughly 25-30% of any one of our Remedy Mission teams is employed by the International Children's Heart Foundation (typically the surgeon, scrub nurse, anesthesiologist, ICU doctor, and often a part-time ICU nurse). The remainder of the team typically comprises volunteer physicians, technicians, and nurses from across the world. Because the hardest-to-come-by positions are contract labor for us and NOT volunteers, we have never failed to run a mission for lack of personnel. We have only cancelled or turned down a request for a future mission due to lack of funding. [Back to Top]

Q: Many heart surgeries require follow-up treatment (including additional surgeries). Do you have a way of providing these to patients?

A: Yes, we do. Our model dictates quarterly visits to each program site (a hospital inside a regional hub). Our reliance on local cardiologists ensures that the local team prioritizes and almost entirely sets the agenda for patient selection (within a development curricula) - after all, Iraqi doctors are the ones who are most intimately connected to the patients and their daily progress! When a local cardiologist sees a child who has either (1) deteriorated and requires another intervention or (2) advanced as expected to the next step of a complex, staged intervention, the child is prioritized for follow-up treatment. [Back to Top]

Q: How do you assess whether surgeries are completed competently and appropriately?

A: Because we are a broker and play a combination administrative and financier role in the coalition of partners working in Iraq to develop pediatric cardiac care, we are able to stand in-between the local surgical team and the international surgical team (whom we contract as a third-party to train and perform surgeries in Iraq). If the local team or health directorate suspects a lack of competence in the international team, a cavalier attitude, or a single poor judgement call, our role is to be the go-between - to be the advocate for the local healthcare providers vis-a-vis the international surgical team.

Similarly, if the international surgical team feels pushed by the local surgical team to perform procedures with which they are uncomfortable or for which they think the local system is ill-prepared, they are able to refuse children for surgery and/or use us (PLC) as a go-between.

The checks-and-balance between the two teams helps us ensure surgeries are performed in a competent, appropriate manner. [Back to Top]

Q: What is the rate of complications during and following surgery?

A: We report our in-hospital and 60-day mortality after each Remedy Mission. You can finds those numbers here. We also produce reports after each Remedy Mission detailing the trip, including data on intraoperative complications, post-operative complications, and mortality. You can find those reports here. We are also deliberately raising the funds necessary to help us bring our various heart hospitals into compliance with the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for Congenital Heart Surgery in Developing Countries. If this kind of quality improvement and reporting initiative interests you, we are currently looking for financial partners for our Followthrough program. [Back to Top]

Q: How do you assess whether surgeons are performing additional surgeries that they would have not had the funding or motivation to perform otherwise?

A: Pediatric heart surgery in Iraq is almost nonexistent without our work. There are two active programs for relatively simple surgeries (one in Erbil and one in Baghdad). Local surgeons claim that combined they perform no more than a few hundred pediatric surgeries a year. In every location where we work, pediatric heart surgery is effectively nonexistent. Therefore, every surgery performed at our program sites (both when we are present and when we are not) are "additional surgeries" that they would not have had the SKILL to perform without the FUNDING we employed to train them in their local environment. [Back to Top]

Q: How do you assess whether surgeons are charging their patients for the surgeries you fund?

A: Because we work in public (government) hospitals - and because healthcare in Iraq is provided almost entirely free of charge - it is widely known that any cardiologist, surgeon, or administrator seeking compensation for services is acting outside of Iraqi law. [Back to Top]

Q: Do you follow up with the surgeons you've trained to assess whether they are correctly applying their training?

A: We see them quarterly in their local environment and perform real-time audits of their skills, recollection of past training, application of new techniques, etc. Additionally, our international surgeon remains on call at any time via phone, Skype, or email for consultation. [Back to Top]

Q: What information is available on the activities - and competence - of the surgeons you've trained?

A: Because our Remedy Mission training program only began in late 2010 - and pediatric heart surgery at our sites across Iraq is the same age - there is still relatively little independent practice to report, and therefore little data on the activities and competence of our surgeons and their teams. But as they begin performing more surgeries independently, we are trying to align each site/surgical team with the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for Congenital Heart Surgery in Developing Countries (a data collection and tracking initiative of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard University). [Back to Top]

Q: Where do surgeons work after completing training? Do they serve poor patients?

A: As of Q2 2011 there was only one private hospital in Iraq (to our knowledge) providing pediatric heart surgery (and those surgeries were on the lower end of the complexity scale). Our work does not necessarily mean to exclude private hospitals as they continue to come online and become viable options, but at present the government system has a better equipped foundation for training local surgical teams. As we look to fully graduate our local surgical teams in the next 5-10 years, we imagine that most of them will stay in the public sector for all of the stability, pensions, and benefits of loyalty provided to those who stick with it. But, undoubtedly, some will seek positions at private hospitals (assuming private hospitals are willing to invest in the requisite capital purchases necessary to establish a credible program). In the public sector, rich and poor are served alike. In the private sector, poorer patients would be at an obvious disadvantage. [Back to Top]

Q: How much do you spend each year on "program" expenses and how much on "overhead?"

A: As a rule, we do not adhere to the model that claims that "overhead" is somehow bad and "program" is somehow good. There are very bad program expenses. There are overhead expenses that are excellent investments. We agree with Paul Brest, President of the Hewlett Foundation, when he said, "Achieving a low overhead ratio drives many charities to behaviors that make them less effective and means more, not less, wasted dollars." Therefore, we spend as much on overhead as we need to accomplish our mission. The mission itself is our North Star - not arbitrary (even harmful) standards about overhead-vs-program expenditures. For the record, however, you can find a current pie chart of our expenditures here (and if you're into that sort of thing, you'll probably be impressed!). [Back to Top]

Advocate of the Week: Lawan Hawizy

January 28, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off

lawan-marathon1

Lawan Hawizy, an Iraqi-Kurd living in London, is our advocate of the week! How do you become an “Advocate of the Week”? You overcome chronic back pain and knee surgery and run a half marathon with three of your friends to raise money and awareness to pay for the life-saving heart surgery for a group of kids in Iraq needing lifesaving heart surgery.

This might not be our standard every week but when we talked with Lawan and heard his story, we knew this title belonged to him! Lawan and 27,000 others will run the Semi-Marathon De Paris on March 7th. The only difference is that Lawan’s running to save lives.

	Our February group of kids comprises Kurds from all over northern Iraq, including Sulaymaniyah, Erbil, and Dohuk regions. They were all born with congenital heart disease and because of that they can’t play like the other kids and face death. They definitely cannot run like Lawan. But now, thanks to Lawan, kids like Mohammed (pictured left), Sara, and Lea have a chance at life and one day they too can be an advocate that’s willing to run miles in honor of those who can’t.
	Join Lawan and his team in their fight for the lives of our February surgery group by donating the amount of your choice in the field below. All donations help the Preemptive Love Coalition send the group to life-saving heart surgery.
Some of our international customers have apparently been having problems donating. To make a gift over the phone using your credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover), please call +1 805-245-4666 during normal business hours – Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Coast Time (GMT -8:00).

This campaign was originally initiated in the name of a little girl named Daroon. Because of family fears of sending their child and her mother abroad for surgery to Turkey, they have withdrawn her name from our February Group. All funds previously raised in her name were donated online under the “February Surgery Group” line item (please see your receipt) and those funds will be used – along with any further donations – to meet the financial needs of the entire group, as some surgeries come in over/under budget. For more information please email info[at]preemptivelove[dot]org.

Cody Fisher is the co-founder and Development Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He moved to Iraq in 2007 where he met his wife and since then they've been waging peace and mending hearts across Iraq. His passions are photography, peacemaking, and food that doesn't come out of a can. You can follow him on Twitter: @candmfisher.

Filed under: Amazed, Baroof Abdul, Deelan Kameran, Dua Arif, Heart Surgery, Muhammed Adnan, Our Kids, Partnerships, Peacemaking, Sara Muaeed, Sozyar Hamdan

“It’s Time We Leave A Legacy”

January 27, 2010 by Cody · Leave a Comment

love_original

“Driven forward by the hope in a brighter tomorrow and the belief in human compassion, The Legacy Movement strives to encourage, motivate, and ultimately inspire the youth of this generation to build a world in which we all seek to live in.

It is the belief of Legacy that our efforts cannot end with our words but must translate into something greater- something that will live beyond us. This generation has been given the opportunity like none other before it to enact this powerful change. It’s time to do more than just talk.

It’s time we leave a Legacy.”

This month, our friends over at the Legacy Movement are donating a percentage of their sales from their “Love Never Fails” tee to help save save the life of Leah, who’s next in live for life-saving heart surgery. What we love about the Legacy Movement is that they live what they speak. They’re living a legacy that doesn’t just affect a generation here in America — now they’re investing in a generation of youth in Iraq, starting with Leah.

Be sure to leave your mark on Leah and her generation by picking up a shirt from the Legacy Movement HERE!

Filed under: Go Blog It!, Partnerships

Mohammed Umed Fit to Fly Home to Iraq on Tuesday

January 25, 2010 by Jeremy · Comments Off

It’s been a longer journey for Mohammed Umed than any of us hoped… three full weeks! But we’re so happy to announce that Mohammed has been cleared to fly home to his daddy and family in Iraq on Tuesday with a total correction and a clean bill of health!

	As we wrap up our January surgery group we are deep into preparing our Feb/March combo group of 8-9 kids. This little guy, Baby Mohammed Adnan, is scheduled for surgery in that group. We are urgently collecting money for his surgery because doctors say that waiting any longer may leave him inoperable, facing imminent death. What a chance to make a profound difference in the life of a child and his family!
	HEAL MOHAMMED’S HEART Donate the amount of your choice to Baby Mohammed Adnan (square pic above) by entering it in the field below. All donations help the Preemptive Love Coalition send Mohammed (and/or any others in his group) to life-saving heart surgery. Donation:

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. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney.

Filed under: Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi, AtlasJet, Mohammed Umed, Our Kids, Partnerships, Peacemaking, Surgery Updates, TOF

Baby Muhammed Adnan Needs Urgent Surgery

January 23, 2010 by Jeremy · Comments Off

This little guy, Mohammed, came to see us in our office a few days ago (with his parents… not by himself). For a very sick baby, he is remarkably smiling and happy. He was such a joy to have in our office; brightened our day and inspired us to keep pushing forward in our life-saving, hope-giving work!

His parents are friends of little Danar Sami‘s parents, whom we sent to surgery a few weeks ago. Mohammed’s father told us in our office last week that he will do whatever he can and is prepared to give all he has – $5,000 savings – to send his son to his highly urgent operation before rising pulmonary pressure leave him inoperable.

	Mohammed is scheduled for surgery in the next few weeks. We are urgently collecting money for his surgery because doctors say that waiting any longer may leave him inoperable, facing imminent death. What a chance to make a profound difference in the life of a child and his family!
	ADOPT MOHAMMED’S HEALING Donate the amount of your choice to Mohammed by entering it in the field below. All donations help the Preemptive Love Coalition send Mohammed (and any others in his group) to life-saving heart surgery. Donation:

Filed under: Muhammed Adnan, Our Kids, Partnerships, Peacemaking, Pulmonary Hypertension, Surgery Updates, VSD

Hamma Cleared for Tuesday Flight Home to Iraq

January 19, 2010 by Jeremy · 1 Comment

Just two weeks after leaving Iraq it’s exciting to know see Hamma headed out of Turkey on a Tuesday flight home to Iraq! More pictures of his progress to come once he lands back with his family and has some time to rest in Iraq…

One thing has been driven home through our work in Iraq this week: all other things equal, most Iraqis prefer to travel to Iran or Jordan for urgent and non-urgent medical care. Both Iran and Jordan have a history of helping Iraqi refugees and providing safe-haven during difficult times. On the other hand, among most Kurds (at least) in northern Iraq, there is a stigmatization of Turkey as a country that oppresses their own Kurdish minority, though much (unfortunately, not all) of those policies and pogroms have largely ceased in the last ten years.

Anadolu Medical Center is helping change the way people in Iraq think about their neighbors to the north. When Hamma’s mom lands back in country she will be faced with questions about “the Turks.” How were they? Were you scared to speak your language or be identified as a Kurd? Etc. She will pass on story after story of how she was respected and cared for. And by changing the way we think about each other, we just might be able to change the way we treat and relate to each other.

Follow Hamma on Twitter: @HammaDana. Subscribe to Hamma’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Hamma’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.

Filed under: Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi, AtlasJet, Hamma Dana, Heart Surgery, International Guild of Visual Peacemakers, Our Kids, PDA, Partnerships, Peacemaking, Surgery Updates

Mohammed Wide Awake and Well in ICU

January 14, 2010 by Jeremy · 2 Comments

No news is great news when your baby is resting in ICU. We don’t have much new to report, but it’s great to see Mohammed awake and doing well in ICU today. Hopefully tomorrow could bring extubation… This slow, steady progress is great!

Isn’t it amazing to watch life-saving in progress? We are able to do this because thousands of people like you have given $10, $25, and $50 – or whatever they could – to impact the future of kids in Iraq.
Have you helped out yet? Would you give what you can today below?

Follow Mohammed on Twitter: @MohammedUmed. Subscribe to Mohammed’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Mohammed’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. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney.

Filed under: ASD, Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi, Heart Surgery, International Guild of Visual Peacemakers, Mohammed Umed, Our Kids, Partnerships, Peacemaking, Surgery Updates, dTGA

Mohammed’s Surgery Great Success; No More Blue Baby; All is Pink!

January 13, 2010 by Jeremy · 448 Comments

Mohammed’s surgery was a great success. He is resting in ICU (intubated). And most importantly, his skin is no longer blue from lack of oxygenation. He is PINK for the first time in his life!

Dad is happy and thankful in Iraq. Mom’s fears and worries are considerably eased tonight as she lays down to rest. Extubation might happen in the next day or two. But as we’ve seen this week, all celebrations are tentative until that critical threshold.

More to come… thanks for the impact you’ve made this week!

Isn’t it amazing to watch life-saving in progress? We are able to do this because thousands of people like you have given $10, $25, and $50 – or whatever they could – to impact the future of kids in Iraq.
Have you helped out yet? Would you give what you can today below?

Follow Mohammed on Twitter: @MohammedUmed. Subscribe to Mohammed’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Mohammed’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. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney.

Filed under: ASD, Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi, Fever, Heart Surgery, International Guild of Visual Peacemakers, Mohammed Umed, Our Kids, Partnerships, Peacemaking, Surgery Updates, dTGA

Mohammed Goes to Surgery After Days Fighting Fever

January 13, 2010 by Jeremy · 542 Comments

After days waiting, watching, and being anxious about her son’s well being, Mohammed’s mom is relieved to finally send him off to surgery. It’s been a rough week in Istanbul – mixed with joy and sorrow – so we know that that her anxieties are heightened as she hands him over to foreign nurses and doctors.

But this surgery is the strongest chance Mohammed will ever have at living a healthy life. And that’s why the hospital is such fertile ground for peacemaking and changing the way we think about each other. As these Turkish nurses and doctors love her family, it’s not just Mohammed’s heart that is changed; it’s her heart and her family’s collective worldview that is affected as well – giving a real chance at mitigating some of the hatred that between Turks and Kurds after decades of active struggle.

Mohammed is headed to surgery right now… more to come.

Isn’t it amazing to watch life-saving in progress? We are able to do this because thousands of people like you have given $10, $25, and $50 – or whatever they could – to impact the future of kids in Iraq.
Have you helped out yet? Would you give what you can today below?

Follow Mohammed on Twitter: @MohammedUmed. Subscribe to Mohammed’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Mohammed’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. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney.

Filed under: ASD, Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi, Delayed, Fever, Heart Surgery, International Guild of Visual Peacemakers, Mohammed Umed, News, Our Kids, Partnerships, Surgery Updates, dTGA

Danar Arrives Back in Iraq Safely with Daddy; Drives 2 Hours Home to Village

January 12, 2010 by Jeremy · 1 Comment

Danar arrived home in Iraq to his Daddy and older brother on Tuesday – just one week after leaving the country for life-saving heart surgery! I spent awhile talking with his father on the phone the last few days and the minutes in the airport lounge before they emerged through those doors were exciting! It’s such a joy to see a family reunited. If the tears of watching him send his child away last week were heart-wrenching, the joy of seeing them reunite with an eye toward a healthy, care-free future was enlivening and inspiring.

Never stop believing that you can make a difference in the world. In world of Danar’s family, you already have!

Isn’t it amazing to watch life-saving in progress? We are able to do this because thousands of people like you have given $10, $25, and $50 – or whatever they could – to impact the future of kids in Iraq.
Have you helped out yet? Would you give what you can today below?

Follow 3-year-old Danar on Twitter: @danarsami. Subscribe to Danar’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Danar’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. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney.

Filed under: AtlasJet, Danar Sami, Our Kids, Partnerships, Peacemaking, Surgery Updates

Soma Salah Has Passed Away Due to a Blood Clot in Lungs (b. July 24, 2009 – d. January 10, 2010)

January 11, 2010 by Jeremy · 1 Comment

It’s with a heavy heart that I write today to say that Baby Soma passed away at 11:45 p.m., Sunday, January 10th, 2010. I had just gotten off the phone with the church in Texas that funded her surgery and given them the update about her serious condition, while thanking them for taking a risk on her surgery. I didn’t know it at the time, but as they finished their lunch in Texas, Soma’s life was on the line in Istanbul.

It was a blood clot in her lungs – something for which the ECMO machine couldn’t compensate. The surgeons left the comfort of their homes and families in the middle of the night to respond but there was nothing to be done.

Last week I said that the Preemptive Love Coalition was not a heart surgery organization, as though chalking up another heart surgery was of some importance. I said we were a HOPE BANK where parents come for hope transfusions – a global family alongside whom Iraqi families could stand in the face of hopelessness, and finally see light at the end of the dark night. And I said that it was for long-term impact that we had decided to take the risk on Soma’s surgery.

So how should we understand our decision today? Did we make the right choice? Did we hasten her death? Was it worth it? Was it a failure? Are we complicit?

Everyone will judge us by their own criterion. Indeed, our own answers and emotions have run the gammut this week. This was a huge surprise for us. We had braced ourselves for long-term loss. We were entirely unprepared for loss in the short-term (even though the doctors had only offered a sobering 65% chance of her surviving ICU).

From an organizational stand point, I owe you an answer as to whether or not we count this as a success or failure so you know what to expect from us in the future.

1. This is a failure. We don’t exist for heart surgeries. We exist to impact the children who are most “impactable” for the long-term. In fact, we turn many children away because their long-term well-being is best served by non-surgical solutions. All other things being equal (and they never are), we would use our limited resources to offer surgery to a child who is most likely to be alive with a healthy heart in sixty years before we help a child who will be hanging on by a thread with a dying heart at twenty. In that sense, we invested our money in a bit of a gamble with Soma because we knew that there were other kids back in Iraq who were more highly “impactable.” It would be easy to argue that we didn’t make it past good intentions this time and that this was an “impact fail.” We welcome that critique. And if that is how you’d like your money invested, we are here to put your money to work. At the same time…

2. This is a success. The Preemptive Love Coalition consistently offers hope, help, and life-saving heart surgeries to children that have been rejected by one or more of the other options available to them. Whether it is a question of resource allocation, ethical priorities, or surgical skill, many of the lives we have successfully saved have been turned down by the government, local, or international groups – including Kadeeja, Heran, and Ahmed . We were – as far as anyone knew – their last chance; their last hope. Soma was one of these.

We spoke seriously with Soma’s parents about the risks. In the end, it was not really the Preemptive Love Coalition who decided to do the surgery. What we did was give them the green light to use our funds and choose for themselves. They chose to risk it and in that limited sense, we gave the family what they asked for – a chance at life. And that chance – that hope – is precisely what they had not found in any other government, hospital, or organization. We told them We love you. You matter to us and to God.. From the hope perspective; from the love perspective, this was not a failure. We chose to love; and love deeply.

3. Still, this is a wake up call. We have asked you a number of times what kind of organization you would have us be. Your overwhelming answer is that you’d like us to be people of the last chance. Some families in Iraq are unnervingly content to sit by and deny their children are dying. We’ve seen it a number of times. It defies all reason. But many more are ready to risk it all for a chance to see their 7 month old learn to crawl, go to school, and marry someday. For those families, you’ve declared your intention to stand by their side. And we have used your financial gifts to fulfill your wishes.

Soma stands as a monument of hope for other Last Chance Children. We don’t have to burry her story with her body for fear that it will reflect negatively on our work; for fear that fewer Iraqi children will be helped because of the “bad press.” To us, this isn’t bad press. This is love in motion.

Jon Foreman sings, “If it doesn’t break your heart it isn’t love.”

This is a wake up call because there are going to be more little babies like Soma that break our hearts. Brace yourselves. If you’re in this for the long haul with us, we can promise you:

1. We will give it everything we have and we will give families HOPE and a shot at life.

2. We will see more death.

3. We will love until we bleed out and have nothing left.

With you,

Jeremy Courtney
Executive Director
jeremy [at] preemptivelove.org

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. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney.

Filed under: ASD, Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi, Heart Surgery, International Guild of Visual Peacemakers, LTGA, Our Kids, Partnerships, Peacemaking, Sad, SomaSalah, Surgery Updates, Tricuspid Valve Atresia

Next Page »

DON'T MISS FREE STUFF WITH OUR NEWSLETTER

Get our good news stories straight into your reader or inbox for free!

Preemptive Love Coalition provides lifesaving heart surgeries for Iraqi kids in pursuit of peace between communities at odds. We offer the 30,000 Iraqi children suffering from life-threatening heart defects a chance at the surgery they need to save their lives. With our world-class international surgical partners we create long-term solutions by training local Iraqi doctors and nurses so they can sustainably save lives without our help.

Popular Tags

Amman Arab Aras Baghdad BSSL Buy Shoes. Save Lives. buyshoessavelives CHD children Congenital Heart Disease Development echocardiogram God heart heart disease heart surgeries Heart Surgery hope hospital Hussein ICHF ICU Internship Iraq Iraqi children Istanbul Jeremy Courtney Jordan Klash Kurd Kurdish Kurdistan nasiriyah peace Peacemaking PLC remedy Remedy Mission Rezhin Southern Iraq sulaymaniyah Surgery Tarza Turkey Wordless Wednesday

Archives

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

Contributors

Adam Brandt (4)
Alex Phillips (10)
Anton Warkenton (1)
Awara Hassan (6)
Benjamin Chasnov (1)
Cayla Willingham (3)
Claire Baker (1)
Cody Fisher (99)
Esther Perez (6)
Jeremy Courtney (83)
Jessica Courtney (20)
Joshua Gigliotti (23)
Lauren Sawyer (2)
Liz Jones (1)
Lydia Bullock (52)
Matt Willingham (51)
Preston Wright (4)
Ruth Simpson (16)
Ryan Rosenberry (2)
Sophia Pappas (6)
Ted Harrison (3)
Tim Mason (1)

HEAL MOHAMMED’S HEART

ADOPT MOHAMMED’S HEALING

Popular Tags

Archives

Contributors