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Mohammad Fwad had his Surgery After Months of Waiting; Resting in ICU as Mom Gives Birth to New Baby Boy
August 23, 2010 by Cody
A local surgeon - Dr. Amanj - assists in surgery in Iraq this week on cases he has been longing to learn about from Dr. William Novick of the International Children’s Heart Foundation
The wait is over, Mohammad received his surgery! His surgery was not entirely without “incident” as he bled for a little bit after surgery while local hospital staff scrambled to find the appropriate blood products to help stop his bleeding.
A depleted blood bank during the month of Ramadan - when there is a decreased likelihood that people would volunteer to give blood during the daylight, fasting hours - has been only one of our confounding complications this week. But working through these glitches are exactly what the International Children’s Heart Foundation team specializes in. Their final audit and advice report will be a great resource for local healthcare and government officials as they seek to develop their local solutions to these local problems.
In addition to news of Mohammad’s heart surgery today, the family was also able to celebrate the birth of Mohammad’s new-born little brother! While Mohammad was being prepped for surgery, his mother was literally being rushed to a hospital across the street to give birth to a little boy!
Right now, Mohammad’s mother is holding her new born baby and in just a few more hours she’ll be holding Mohammad with a newly mended heart thanks to you!
We love this story!
With you,
Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.
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Cody Fisher is a co-founder and U.S. Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. Cody is married to the marvelous Michelle Fisher and they currently live in Southern California where they will be until they move back to Iraq, where they met, in November. Follow Cody on Twitter: @candmfisher. |
You are Bringing Laughter Back To Nasiriyah, Iraq from Thousands of Miles Away
August 23, 2010 by Cody
Photos by Heber Vega
Our first Remedy Mission has literally reached the corners of Iraq as we’ve sought to serve and save children from every part of the country. In our hospital ward there are Arab, Turkmen, and Kurdish families spending their days together talking, crying, and simply listening to one another. If a mother has to leave the room, the other mothers in the room quickly take up the responsibility to look after their child as if it were their own. Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen have a complicated and painful history but this week it’s becoming clear to so many that all three groups have so much in common, the biggest being their love for their children.
It’s a love that’s driven each one of them to such great heights in order to find someone who could save their child.
Noor was exactly 40 days old when she became very sick. Her parents were concerned, like any parent would have been, and they took her to the doctor’s office. They took an echo and discovered she had a heart defect. They had the news confirmed by 4 other doctors in her city of Nasariyah but not one of them told her than Noor needed surgery. Noor’s mother said that the doctor’s never brought it up because they all know that finding someone who could operate on and save Noor’s life would be close to impossible.
Instead, they sent her away knowing that Noor would soon die.
Noor is now 3 months old and resting in her hospital bed after receiving the surgery that saved her life, all which the doctors in Nasiriyah thought would be “impossible.”
Noor’s mother shared with me today, “Since we first found out that Noor had a heart defect, we haven’t laughed. Now that she is better, we can laugh again.”
We love standing alongside you in bringing families together, tearing down racial divides, and restoring laughter to homes all over Iraq.
We love recognizing the fact that we have a great deal in common with families on the other side of the world and we love the fact that right now, there is a family from Nasariyah that has a reason to laugh again.
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All our money comes from you! You’ve had a major hand in accomplishing a remedy for the kids of Iraq. And you can do it again today by beginning to spread the word! If you like what we are doing this week through our Remedy Mission, please be sure to spread the word:
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With you,
Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.
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Cody Fisher is a co-founder and U.S. Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. Cody is married to the marvelous Michelle Fisher and they currently live in Southern California where they will be until they move back to Iraq, where they met, in November. Follow Cody on Twitter: @candmfisher. |
Mohammad Fwad’s Surgery Post-Poned until Monday; We Plan Future Remedy Missions to Eradicate the Backlog
August 22, 2010 by Cody
On my taxi ride home tonight I thought through what needed to end up on our blog before we ended our day. Some days that’s an easy question to answer because of what happened, whether it was multiple surgeries to celebrate, or the full recovery of yet another child. Today, both of those things happened and we’re thrilled about it! But what made today hard was when we heard that Mohammed’s surgery was pushed back yet another day.
Mohammed, his family, and all of us expected his surgery to take place last Friday. Unfortunately, we couldn’t know how long each surgery would last and we couldn’t anticipate the local shortage of blood products; the limited supply of certain medical instruments; or an influx of emergency cases that have come seeking Remedy. In any case, Mohammed’s surgery was pushed to Saturday. Then it was pushed to Sunday. It’s 10:30 PM on Sunday night and Mohammed must wait yet another day to be admitted to surgery.
Mohammed is not being overlooked. In fact, it’s because our team from the International Children’s Heart Foundation refuses to overlook any child or settle for anything less than the best that certain children have required more time and attention than originally planned. It’s because of this team that each child has received a near perfect correction and followthrough each day, no matter what the expense and no matter how long it takes.
But that doesn’t make it any easier for Mohammed’s mother and father as they grow weary of waiting. It’s certainly not easy for two year old Mohammed who wasn’t allowed to eat or drink for 12 hours today as his surgery was delayed and then post-poned.
“When will you save my son?” I heard it repeatedly today. It wasn’t out of anger or bitterness, it was simply a mother who cares so deeply and longs for the healing of her son. If I was in her position, I doubt I would respond with such grace; especially if the person across from me couldn’t give an answer.
Mohammed is scheduled to receive surgery tomorrow (Monday), but even when he receives his surgery there are still so many more that are waiting and hoping for another Remedy Mission. Even if we were able to operate on 50 children this week, we would still have to turn people away at the door. If we operated on 1,000 kids, more would still have to wait.
It breaks our hearts a thousand times over, but at the same time it makes our hearts stronger. It strengthens our resolve and lights a fire within us to continue to do what we’re doing. We refuse to be content in a country that has a backlog of thousands of children who are in desperate need of heart surgery. We refuse to sit by and let them die. We can not accept the fact that there isn’t enough training among Iraqi doctors to save these children.
We believe that these Remedy Missions are the missing link we’ve been reaching for these last three years. And we believe we can work together with the people of Iraq and with the rest of the world to train Iraqi surgeons to care for their own so that we do not just address the backlog of Iraqi children waiting for surgery as we know it today, but rather work toward serving every child from this point forward who is born with a heart defect. We can help empower and strengthen local doctors and nurses and this first Remedy Mission makes it clear that YOU can continue to make this a reality.
Kids like Mohammed are the reason why we are already dreaming and beginning to plan future Remedy Missions across Iraq. And they are the reason we are raising money for not just one more Remedy Mission, but for dozens in the coming years.
So we are fighting for Mohammed and his parents today and we will fight for another child and his family the next day and we plan to keep on fighting until every Iraqi family has access to the lifesaving heart surgeries that their children need to live.
Will you donate below to make these parents’ beautiful dreams a reality?
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With you,
Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.
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Cody Fisher is a co-founder and U.S. Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. Cody is married to the marvelous Michelle Fisher and they currently live in Southern California where they will be until they move back to Iraq, where they met, in November. Follow Cody on Twitter: @candmfisher. |
Ahmed’s Surgery a Complete Success; Heart Stronger Than Ever Thanks to You!
August 21, 2010 by Cody
Ahmed is prepared for surgery with our visiting cardiologist, Dr. Sri Rao of the International Children’s Heart Foundation. Photo by Heber Vega
Ahmed’s 5 year battle to obtain his much-needed heart surgery is now a thing of the past after a 5.5 hour surgery that successfully corrected all five major heart defects! He’s now resting in ICU with his uncle who hasn’t left his side since his parents were seriously injured in a car crash this past week. If you haven’t read Ahmed’s story be sure to read it here.
We’ve all fallen in love with Ahmed, there’s no denying it. Today our joy is through the roof as we celebrate Ahmed’s life and the good news that both of his parents are recovering with him a few hours away in their home city!
Ahmed’s heart can now give his body everything it needs to run, jump, and shout for joy, thanks to you!
It’s always an exciting journey to the hospital each morning to see our kids. But tomorrow morning the trip is going to be special.
We can’t wait to see our friend, Ahmed.
With you,
Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.
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Cody Fisher is a co-founder and U.S. Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. Cody is married to the marvelous Michelle Fisher and they currently live in Southern California where they will be until they move back to Iraq, where they met, in November. Follow Cody on Twitter: @candmfisher. |
Which Photo Do You Think is Cutest? We Could Not Choose.
August 21, 2010 by Jeremy
Play time helps the long hours waiting for heart surgery go faster.
One of the things we are committed to as the Preemptive Love Coalition is our Family Services Program. We do more than fund heart surgeries; we invest our lives in the families we serve. We typically spend months with a family after identifying their child and selecting him or her for surgery. We are on the ground in Istanbul, Turkey when children arrive for heart surgery. We are Americans living in Iraq, in the hospitals with moms and dads during the long, confusing hours leading up to surgery. And we are in the homes of most of our children for six months after surgery to ensure proper followthrough, post-operative check ups, etc. Somewhere along the way, we start talking about “those kids” as “our kids.” And that’s when everything changes.
Mohammad Fwad is one of our kids. He didn’t just show up at the hospital after the TV station announced the beginning of our Remedy Mission like hundreds others we had never met. He was on our list and we have been in his home for months.
He’s one of ours… he is one of yours! He is scheduled for surgery on Sunday. Please stay tuned…!
With you,
Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.
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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. |
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