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]

Jeremy Courtney Founder, Executive Director Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney

“I'd love to hear any critique or questions you might have!”

DROP A NOTE OR DONATION BY MAIL: Preemptive Love Coalition 1300 Darbyton Dr. Hewitt, TX 76643 GIVE BY PHONE: To make a gift over the phone, using your credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover), please call +1 (806) 853-9131 during normal business hours. IRAQ OFFICE: +964 770-355-6298 (local)

Nivar Goes in to Surgery After Endless Games of Patty-Cake

July 20, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

A hospital is a lonely place if you don’t have someone you love and trust to share it with. Nivar is here in Istanbul – away from her home and family and brand new baby sister in Iraq – with her dad. Dad’s are great for little girls… but let’s be honest… little girls need other girls!

It has been a tremendous ending to our Preemptive Love Summer Internship this week watching Lydia Bullock and all of our other interns give themselves to these kids and their parents as much as they can.

In the video above Lydia plays patty-cake again and again and again with little Nivar – which effectively staves off the worry and fear that could have easily set in as Nivar waited for surgery this morning. Her dad was worried and scared, but a little humility and willingness to meet a child on her own level meant that Nivar had nothing to fear.

Nivar went into surgery at 10 a.m. this morning… stay tuned for more updates on her progress….

Follow Nivar on Twitter: @NivarMohammed. Subscribe to Nivar’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Nivar’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: @JCourt.

Thoughts on Nivar, My Own Little Girl, and Injustice

July 20, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

You know I have a daughter… she’s not quite Nivar’s age. But I have deeply enjoyed the years I’ve had with her. She has her own personality. We have our own little jokes. We have secret phrases that no one else understands. And she loves candy… especially suckers.

So while my daughter is safe at home with a fully functioning heart, I’m doubly burdened by the weight Nivar and her family have carried all these years. Why wasn’t she treated earlier? Why are there so few healthcare options in an oil-rich country like Iraq? Why was she born this way at all?

Did GOD do this? Did Saddam do this? Could we have done this?

These are things that I’m beginning to talk about with my daughter when we pray for little girls like Nivar.

One of the “heart surgery kids” my daughter became most attached to was a baby named Daryan we tried to save a year ago this week. He died. My daughter is remarkably unfazed by death. She still talks about Daryan and prays for him weekly.

Sometimes I wonder if I should I be more like her?

While Nivar’s dad steps outside to get a break and smoke a cigarette, I’m sitting here with Nivar alone in Istanbul thinking how much she’s like my little girl. Thinking about sending my daughter through those harrowing doors into heart surgery brings tears so easily. Every time I see these kids cry in the face of the unknown; every time I see them play through the discomfort; and every time I see them enjoy a sucker in the sunshine I remember that these dark shadows in which they live simply prove the existence of a blazing light; a better reality. Because for all the questions left unanswered in the face of injustice, we can agree that shadows prove the light.

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

Music courtesy The Autumn Film (http://theautumnfilm.com/)

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: @JCourt.

VIDEO: Four Iraqi Children Arrive in Istanbul for Lifesaving Heart Surgery

July 20, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

On July 18th four Iraqi kids arriving in Istanbul, Turkey in need of lifesaving heart surgery. They have entered a country about which they have mostly heard negative stories.

This week will change their perspectives and change their lives forever…

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

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

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

Follow Jeen on Twitter: @JeenMustafa. Subscribe to Jeen’s updates via RSS 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: @JCourt.

Chro & Leah Play While Waiting for Surgery; Mothers Share Fear & Worry

July 19, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

As many mothers of sick children know, outward behavior does not always accurately convey the gravity of an internal illness. Such is the case with Chro and Leah, who are settled into their room and already beginning to attract strangers with their smiling faces. Having been born with defective hearts and yet to discover what life could be like with a healthy body, these young girls have no choice but to enjoy life as they know it. While Leah prefers being held or playing with her rattle, Chro’s favorite activity to pass the time is getting her toenails painted…again and again and again. But when the first words out of her mother’s mouth in the morning are, “when is my child’s surgery?” the immediacy of these beautiful little girls’ situation is unavoidable.

We can’t help but smile at the contrasts present in the hospital room these two mothers and their children share. One woman is a mother of eight, while the other is perhaps twenty years younger, fighting for the life of her first child and five months pregnant with her second.

What the two mothers share in common, however, is concern.

As of two days ago, these women had never traveled without their husbands, flown on an airplane or left their country. Yet they have now experienced an overnight flight to a country they have been taught to fear and a long bus ride through one of the largest cities in the world, all on their own. Surrounded by foreign languages and customs, these mothers now await their child’s first opportunity at a full life, sharing a hospital room with perhaps the only other person in the world that just might understand how they feel.

Surgeries here at Anadolu Medical Center begin tomorrow, and we hope these two mothers will soon have the joy of receiving the news that they may return to their families with healthy children and renewed hope. Then there will be four smiling faces when they leave their hospital room, instead of only two.

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

Follow Leah on Twitter: @Leahibrahim. Subscribe to Leah’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Leah’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: @JCourt.

Purple Dress & Purple Skin – Nivar Arrives in Istanbul in Time for Much Needed Heart Surgery

July 18, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

Her purple dress could not have matched her skin tone any better. As Nivar disembarked the airplane after arriving safely in Istanbul, I was more than a little scared that all our efforts were going to amount to a movement from the frying pan to the fire.

The oxygen in a crowded airplane cabin at cruising altitude is not the ideal environment for a child with a heart defect that inhibits the flow of oxygen throughout her body. And when I saw Nivar crouching down in the airport after going through the first round of security, I was really afraid that we might lose her right then and there.

In GOD’s kindness she worked through her breathing difficulty with the determination of someone who has never known any better. While I was worried about her, she seemed to hardly know anything was wrong. This shortness of breath, clubbed hands and toes, and deep blue skin is all she’s ever known.

Upon arriving at the hospital it was more of the same. She preferred to crouch on the floor to sit in her beautiful private bed. In fact, she preferred to crouch on the floor to pretty much any thing else at all.

But she’s here. She survived the flight and the travel across town – two things that we are constantly concerned about with children who are as sick as Nivar. Now she is in the capable hands of the medical staff at the Anadolu Medical Center. In a few days’ time, she will have had her heart surgery and, with great likelihood, will be on her way to a totally new life of long walks and intense soccer matches with her brother.

Stay tuned for more…

Follow Nivar on Twitter: @NivarMohammed. Subscribe to Nivar’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Nivar’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: @JCourt.

Nivar Leaves for Surgery Tonight!

July 17, 2010 by Preston · Leave a Comment 

Thanks to your amazing support, Nivar is leaving for heart surgery in Turkey tonight at 6 p.m. (Central). Nivar has a four-fold set of heart conditions called Tetralogy of Fallot.

While this is one of the most common forms of congenital heart disease, it is also one of the most debilitating. The hole and restricted blood flow in her heart keep her from playing with all of her friends. Nivar’s birthday is soon approaching, and she also is the proud new sister of a little baby girl. With this surgery, she can enjoy her birthday and new baby sister even more.

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

Preston Wright, a PLC summer intern ('10), has dedicated his summer to spending time working with the Iraqi people, specifically, visiting with Kurdish children, Klash makers and doctors. When he is not preoccupied with his intern duties the West Tennesseean enjoys playing soccer and working with children.

Chro Leaves Iraq for Surgery on Saturday

July 16, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

If you have followed our blog this week, then you have undoubtedly been introduced to Chro and her family already. Next week, surgeons will be operating to undo four life-threatening abnormalities within her heart.

Chro’s four-fold set of heart defects is not uncommon in Iraq; however, in the face of the multiple problems in Chro’s heart, she has a devoted family, skilled physicians, and passionate communities crossing boundaries to provide hope for a corrective surgery.

We hope that through this surgery, Chro can return home with a healthy heart, an invaluable gift for a soon to be big sister and her family.

Follow Chro on Twitter: @ChroArkan. Subscribe to Chro’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Chro’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: @JCourt.

Jeen Mustafa is Leaving for Surgery on Saturday

July 15, 2010 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

Meet Jeen Mustafa. Jeen is currently living with Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), which affects the two upper chambers of the heart. Her disease creates a hole between the two upper chambers of the heart, mixing the blood going to the lungs with the blood going to the rest of the body. Because of your financial help, Jeen is leaving for surgery on July 18 along with 4 other children with congenital heart disease. Jeen will be receiving a non-invasive surgery through catheter, which also significantly reduces the danger of the procedure.

Follow Jeen on Twitter: @JeenMustafa. Subscribe to Jeen’s updates via RSS 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: @JCourt.

An Update on Sozyar, Five Months After Surgery

July 12, 2010 by Sophia · Leave a Comment 

At last week’s home visit, two-year-old Sozyar puckered her lips and blew me a kiss as I was walking out the door.

Sozyar, who has a much more delayed development and a much longer medical history chart than most other children her age, is doing remarkably well given where she was less than half a year ago. When Sozyar went to surgery in February, she only knew how to lie down and bat her big, beautiful eyes. Now, five months later, she has grown tremendously and is attempting to pull herself up and crawl. If she continues developing at this rate it won’t be long until she is walking!

With a healthy appetite (she ate from everyone else’s dishes at lunch) and a feistiness for asserting herself, she has begun to reach milestones in her recovery.

Sophia Pappas, a PLC summer intern ('10), is passionate about living, loving and saving lives. While in Iraq, Sophie enjoys wandering the bazaar, trying local foods and playing with the kids.

Yahya – One Week Before Surgery

July 12, 2010 by Sophia · Leave a Comment 

The hot desert sun beams down upon wreckage from the days of Saddam’s rule; and big houses, now broken down into cement blocks, line the dusty streets.

A modest white home is nestled in the midst of the rubble. And coming from the house were the sounds of dishes clanking in the kitchen, a TV blaring, a little boy’s laughter.

That little boy is 5 year-old Yahya, one of my favorites who is about to make the trip to Istanbul this Saturday for heart surgery. Much awaits Yahya. He is getting a new valve put into his heart, a new lease on his young life.

But for now, he is at home. While visiting him and his family in their home last week, I noticed Yahya in the living room playing a soccer-themed video game and giggling with his best friend, Ahmed.

Yahya loves video games. Normally very shy and reserved, his demeanor was relaxed and comfortable when he pretended to be the famous Argentinian soccer player, Lionel Messi. Yahya told his father that when he grows up, he wants to be Messi.

Yahya’s upcoming surgery gives us hope that one day he will overcome his disease and put aside his soccer video games in order to play like a real soccer star outside under the Iraqi sun.

Sophia Pappas, a PLC summer intern ('10), is passionate about living, loving and saving lives. While in Iraq, Sophie enjoys wandering the bazaar, trying local foods and playing with the kids.

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	Matt Willingham is the PLC press secretary and writes primarily on politics, history, general updates and visual peacemaking through photography and film.
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	Jeremy Courtney is a PLC cofounder and writes primarily to emphasize our vision and values, including organizational and financial transparency.

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.

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