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WE HAVE KIDS IN SURGERY RIGHT NOW! THROUGH THESE STORIES WE'RE INVITING YOU TO BE A PART OF THE NEXT LIFESAVING SOLUTION. GET TO KNOW THESE KIDS & PLEASE GIVE WHAT YOU CAN FOR THE NEXT GROUP! |
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Baroof Worries in His Room Before Going to Surgery This Morning
March 1, 2010 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
I spent an hour with 12-year-old Baroof this morning right before he was scheduled to have his life-saving surgery.
He’s a really sweet boy from a village in the north of Iraq. He speaks a different dialect of Kurdish from the one I know, but despite the language barrier we were still able to understand each other some. He told me that he’s really missing his dad and his brother and sister who are just a little older than him. He seemed a nervous as he waited which is to be expected, and he was also very hungry from having to fast before the surgery.
He was very excited to be able to talk to his dad for a few minutes before I left him but from the tears in his eyes afterwards we could tell that he is really missing him.
Baroof was taken into surgery at 11:40 a.m. Istanbul time. We’ll keep you updated on Baroof as we hear more in the next few hours.
Follow Baroof on Twitter: @BaroofAbdul. Subscribe to Baroof’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Baroof’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
Heran Has Infection Around Her Heart 9 Months After Surgery
February 5, 2010 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
Heran had surgery in May 2009 - the first of two surgeries she’ll need to be considered completely healed. Heran is currently sick with an infection in her heart and Dr. Aso, our local pediatric cardiologist in Iraq, has recommended that she stay in hospital for the course of her antibiotic treatment so that she can be closely monitored.
She was disappointed that she doesn’t have a nice hospital room with her own personal TV like she had during her at Anadolu Medical in Turkey. There aren’t any TV’s at all available for her to watch here so we were pleased that we were able to lend her a mini portable DVD player for her stay as it will be 6-7 weeks which is a long time for anyone and a lifetime for a 7-year-old girl. She was very excited about it!
She’s been very brave so far with so many blood tests and having her cannula site changed every few days. I’ve been visiting her every couple of days for countless games of ‘Uno’! She loves that game!
Heran has been sick a lot these past few months, so we’re hoping that after this infection clears up she will be able to be back at school and that her immune system will become stronger. Visiting is limited to just 2 days a week here so both her and her mother are missing the rest of the family plus she’s missing school a lot too.
We’re thankful for special permission to visit her anytime. So we’ll do our best to keep you posted on her progress.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
Shwana Better Than Ever At Home in His Village Once Destroyed By Saddam Hussein
July 9, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
Qaladzya is a village in northern Iraq that was completely destroyed by Saddam Hussein in the late 1980’s as part of his Anfal Campaigns against the Kurdish population. This and the destruction of 4,000 other similar villages prompted a mass exodus of Kurdish families to the Turkish and Iranian borders at the close of the decade.
Shwana’s parents are survivors of Saddam’s terrible attacks. Today they live in a small two room house where they raise Shwana and his three brothers and sisters. Shwana’s father is a science teacher.
In spite of their meager monthly earnings, when PLC executive director, Jeremy Courtney, and Family Advocate, Ruth Simpson, visited Shwana’s family along with two of PLC’s summer interns on Tuesday we were treated to a feast of rice, beans, chicken, beef, stuff tomatoes, onions and peppers, and banana pudding. Plus loads of tea! Shwana received his heart surgery in May and has been recovering quite well every since.
It was a celebration to behold as we enjoyed the gift of life that so many of you around the world have worked to give nine year old Shwana. The food was great, but it was the smiles and the obvious gratitude that give us such continued joy in serving the people of Iraq as we seek to undo the effects of Saddam’s reign.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
Bruska Ready for School in the Fall After Successful Heart Surgery Last January
June 27, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
Yesterday, PLC Family Advocates and Summer Interns went to visit Bruska. Bruska was all smiles while we were there. She really wants to go to school next year with her older sister. You can tell she really loves her family and that she enjoys being around people. As our physical therapist, Ruth, worked a little with her, her face lit up - especially while playing with her doll.
She is doing well since her heart surgery in January.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
Roshna Surprises All by Passing Her Classes In Spite of Many Absences Prior to Surgery
June 26, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
Yesterday, PLC Family Advocates and Summer Interns visited Roshna, a sixteen year old girl who had heart surgery in February, who seems to be doing well.
When asked about how she now feels post-surgery, she says that her lips no longer turn blue from lack of oxygen and she is able breathe much easier. She is happy, making jokes and laughing during our visit.
Roshna had exciting news for us: She passed her school exams, which was quite an accomplishment because she had missed three months of school this year due to her heart condition. The school threatened to not allow her to take her exams because they said there would be no way she could pass them, but she proved them wrong! We are all very proud of her!
Now that she is on summer break, she enjoys drawing and watching TV. She showed us several of her recent drawing which she had copied free-handedly.
She’s excited about the future and looks forward to going to college and possibly being an engineer.
Heart surgeries for Iraqi kids is so much more than it often sounds. These life-saving heart surgeries are game changing, allowing kids to complete their school and aspire to the highest fields of work in the land.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
Aria is the Happiest Guy in Town a Year After Heart Surgery
June 25, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
PLC interns and Family Advocates met with Aria and his family last Thursday. Oh, the hospitality of this wonderful family! Aria is 3 years old, has Down Syndrome, and has survived a heart surgery - yet is one of the happiest little guys we’ve met here. Although his heart was operated on nearly a year and a half ago, you could never tell. He loves the camera and perks up whenever one is pointed towards him. He’ll pause whatever he’s doing…pose for you…then run to you to see how it turned out.
For a majority of the time, we “played” with both Aria and his older sister, which consisted of dodging flying toys as they were thrown about the room - typical behavior of a three year old boy. The family is incredible, and treated us as the most honored of guests. Though not having much, their need would never be seen by what was given to us. We (the interns) hope to return to their home soon - as we want to continue building the relationship that has been started by PLC Family Advocates.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
The Smile of a Life-Changed: Roman at Home with Dad
June 15, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
When some of PLC’s summer interns visited Roman he was riding around on his little bicycle and walking in and out of the room to see what was going on - just a little over two weeks after his life-saving heart surgery. His family was very hospitable!
Except for a slightly decreased appetite Roman has been recovering extremely well. His life has truly been changed for the better.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
A Total Repair for Bruska
March 17, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
Little Bruska successfully has a full heart repair yesterday. She was the child that we tried to raise money for around Christmas. Sounds like she doing well after her surgery.
When the surgeon did his final check before surgery he said that he was optimistic about Bruska’s surgery being successful since she was able to stabilize after yesterday’s severe cyanotic spell. He added he had never seen a child’s oxygen level drop that low before and the child survive.
Around 1 pm the doctors from Bruska’s surgical team began to appear. Each of them said the surgery was finishing and had gone well, but were not ready to elaborate. When the surgeon came to us, he shared that Bruska had a good surgery with no events during the operation, and it was a total repair. He was full of encouragement that she would be incredibly better than she had been in the previous days, although mentioned again that she had arrived with neurological damage before surgery.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
Taban Recovering well
March 1, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
Taban is back in Kurdistan after having her life saving surgery in Turkey. She’s recovering well at a relatives home in the city where we live. She’s from small village about a hour away so the doctor asked if she would stay here in the city for a few weeks so that we, along with the local peadiatric cardiologist can monitor her progress. Both Taban and her mom said that they had a wonderful time in Turkey, their experience was “perfect and could not have been better”.
Taban is 13 years old and has not been attending school for the past couple of years so we’re trying, along with our partner organisation here to encourage her to start going to school again.
We’re going again to visit her this afternoon in the home of her relatives. Here’s a picture of Taban recovering in hospital after her surgery.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
Taban Comes Through Her Surgery!
February 16, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
Yesterday at 0900 Taban underwent a 3 hour surgery to close the hole in her heart! Our staff in Turkey emailed last night to say that the surgery went well. We called her family to let them know and they sounded so excited! We’ll update you when we hear more!
You can follow Taban’s progress on Twitter or via RSS here.
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Ruth Simpson is a Family Advocate for the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq and a certified physio-therapist. Ruth also hails from Ireland, though she's slowly losing her amazing accent amongst all the Americans. When not sharing her life with PLC's kids in Iraq, she's most often serving some other constituent group with her rehabilitative skills and compassion. |
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