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Roshna Surprises All by Passing Her Classes In Spite of Many Absences Prior to Surgery

June 26, 2009 by admin · 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.

         

Heran Full of Energy & Center of Attention Back in Iraq

June 17, 2009 by admin · 1 Comment 

On Wednesday of last week PLC Family Advocates and our summer interns were blessed with the opportunity to see little Heran less than 24 hours after she arrived back in her home city.

She and her family were beaming with gratitude as she was passed from lap to lap of her four older sisters. As the youngest sibling, she is used to standing back and observing, and now she is not quite sure how to handle all of the attention. Even though her words were few, she sat by our sides and happily showed each of us every picture on the camera she took to Istanbul. She would smile shyly as her parents proudly talked about her improved overall health and new opportunities that are now before her.

Her energy was almost surprising after such an invasive surgery, quickly bouncing from the living room to the bedroom to the kitchen. Her family was so receptive and welcoming to the PLC staff; it is exciting to know that all of their hearts have been touched through this process, not just Heran’s.

         

The Smile of a Life-Changed: Roman at Home with Dad

June 15, 2009 by admin · 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.

         

Sacrificial Giving

April 7, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

As the world economic situation remains in headlines much has been said about the global poor - the bottom billion - who are likely to suffer the most in the event that worldwide charity dries up alongside other spending.

We’ve been very encouraged at the Preemptive Love Coalition by the various ways in which you continue to give of yourselves - with your time, your creativity, and your money - so that the children of Iraq receive the life-saving heart surgeries they need and to facilitate dialogue between regional and international communities at odds.

Among the most exciting and sacrificial gifts we’ve seen in the last few months has to be the $2.56 gift given by Ryan & Caden.

Ryan and Caden (5 yrs. and ~3 yrs. below) have been learning from their parents about the children in Iraq who are in need of a special surgery for their heart to help them live longer, happier lives. In response to this news Ryan and Caden rallied together and gave $2.56 of their own money to help the children of Iraq. Probably one of the most sacrificial gifts we’ve ever received.

Their parents intentionality in bringing Ryan and Caden to this point was equally challenging to us today: “We are trying very hard to help them see themselves as just one part of God’s big plan rather than the center of it.”

Thanks, Ryan and Caden, for being good friends to kids your age in Iraq. We’re going to show your picture to all our friends here and tell them that they have some good little friends in the U.S.A.

         

The Great Eight (Taban)

February 12, 2009 by erin · Leave a Comment 

After only 2 weeks in Iraq, working with families who’s children need heart surgeries to grow into adulthood, it was an exciting day to come face to face with two of these families and their children. Both families, whose children are 11 and 13 years old have known since birth that their children have serious heart conditions.

It was wonderful to be the bearer of such great news and tell Taban’s family, who has been waiting for 13 years to find a way to help cure their daughter, that she will be able to leave for surgery on Sunday. In just a few short days she will be on her way to Turkey where she will receive the heart surgery she desperately needs. I have been very touched by the kindness and devotion of these families to do whatever it takes to help their children get the surgeries they need. They are willing to entrust their children, their futures, and even invest their hope in us, The Preemptive Love Coalition.

As we shared several glasses of tea with them, they took the time to welcome me to their country and their village and thank me for leaving my home in America to come and help their children. Although these two children urgently need surgery, the Doctor reviewing their cases is very hopeful that their surgeries will be successful.

Not all of the children we have seen this week have as much hope for a full recovery, or even that they are eligible to receive surgery. And even in the midst of being the potential bearer of wonderful or terrible news for these families, I would not choose to be anywhere else in the world than here in Iraq sharing in the joy,

sorrow, hope, pain, and healing of these children and their families.

         

Kurdistan Save the Children Comes through in the Clutch!

February 11, 2009 by scott · Leave a Comment 

We’ve been getting ready to send a group of Iraqi kids to life-saving heart surgeries in Turkey next week. After crunching the numbers, we thought that we could stretch and send six kids this month. But we had eight who desperately needed urgent surgeries.

Enter our local partner, Kurdistan Save the Children.

Normally, KSC helps contribute to the funding of a couple of kids each month. But they really stepped up to the plate and quadrupled their commitment for February.

Instead of helping two kids this month, they’re helping eight, contributing $2,500 towards each of their surgeries!

That’s $20,000 (or doo defter, as we like to say here in Sulaymaniyah)!

That means that instead of sending just six kids, we can now send eight over the next week, probably saving two extra lives in the process.

It also means that we’re seeing our vision of local solutions to local problems become a reality.

We know that the only hope for sustainable development is when people are empowered and encouraged to tackle the challenges they face together. That’s why we ask for a child’s extended family to contribute something to the cost of their surgery: we don’t want our generosity to rob them of their dignity or their responsibility. Instead, we want to strengthen families as a constructive element of civil society here in Iraq.

And it’s why we’re increasingly looking to form partnerships with Iraqi NGOs and businesses to support their efforts to care for the lives of their own people.

This month, we’re seeing it happen. Local contributions will cover almost half the cost of these eight surgeries. We’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s great to see how far we’ve come.

         

Hussein’s Story

January 8, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Hussein, a 3 year old with bright brown eyes, has been one of our more urgent cases and one we’ve been trying to raise funds for very quickly. You may have seen the banner “Save Hussein”. Here’s his story:

November 2nd- Hussein is often short of breath, and although his adorable smiles in these pictures do not show it, he will occasionally simply run out of energy and cry as his mother holds him awhile. His case is quite urgent; the diagnosis is DTGA, meaning he will undergo an operation to switch his great arteries of his heart. His mother is very anxious for him to get the surgery done. As we talked tonight about what it will be like for them at the treatment center, such as the food, and the room where they will stay, she humbly and with tears in her eyes said, “I don’t care if I have only tea and bread, just help my son have his operation.”

November 6th- During one of Hussein’s initial exams, while the doctors asked for some family medical history, his mother shared that her oldest daughter had died of a heart problem in Iraq, as the doctors there could do nothing for her. We can’t really imagine what she must be going through as Hussein is now also approaching treatment.

December 17th- Hussein undergoes a 7 hour surgery, but the surgeons weren’t able to complete the artery switch. Stress is high for his mother and she hasn’t been sleeping at night.

December 18th- Hussein’s 2nd surgery is successful. As soon as his mother sees him recovering in the ICU she notes how pink his skin is and how high his oxygen levels were reading. His heart is finally working properly!

December 24th- Hussein is blooming before our eyes! He’s playing with his mom and making great progress in healing. Now that Hussein is on his way to full recovery, the relief and joy in his mom is so evident.

January 13th- Hussein and his mother finally depart the treatment center and make their way back home to Iraq. What a long road this has been for them and their family. They return to Iraq with very joyful news and a very healthy son!

Thanks for helping us “Save Hussein”. For this 3 year old- it meant everything.

         

2 surgeries already done!

November 13, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Rezhin and Tarza just barely arrived with our partner organization before they received the news that they could head right in for surgery! If you’ve read some of the other posts here you may have seen that some kids can have a lengthy waiting process until they can have their surgery. Rezhin and Tarza waited just one week before they underwent successful heart surgeries on November 10th. Both Rezhin and Tarza’s surgeries were relatively simple ones, according to the surgeons. They had the same heart defect called Atrial Septal Defect, which is a hole in the wall between the atriums of their hearts. The girls had no complications and were alert and awake following their surgeries.

Both girls are already out of the ICU and healing well. After their move out of the ICU yesterday both girls spent time together eating Doritos and M&Ms- which must mean they’re definitely feeling better! This is, of course, a big relief to their worried parents who have endured many years of worry over their child’s health and future. What a gift to these parents to have children who are now healing! How amazing that we get to be part of that too!

         

Shanaw smiling after surgery

October 2, 2008 by carrie · Leave a Comment 

Our partner organization writes about Shanaw’s successful heart surgery:
“This morning (Sept 30th) we arrived at the hospital around 11 a.m. to find Shanaw awake, extubated, and already able to drink small cups of water and slurp soup with little assistance. She said she hated soup and joked that she wanted hummus. Though she’s not able to move around too much yet, the irrepressible smile was once again on display, albeit painted around the edges with the occasional wince of pain.

Her post-op examination results and vital statistics all look very good and her blood oxygen level hovered around 97 to 99% which is great. She suppressed laughter with us several times - because it hurt - and spoke intermittently and with evident effort. She insisted that she wasn’t tired and didn’t want to sleep. From her reclined position on her bed in the ICU, she had a good view and took an avid interest in the flurry of activity all around her, which included an African child named Mercy, a 23 day-old baby awaiting surgery, and Ali, also from Iraq.

The atmosphere in the ICU was serious as always, but among our staff, Shanaw’s aunt, and Ali’s father, the mood was a bit lighter and there were smiles all around. Last night things were very uncertain as Shanaw had come out of surgery only to be sent back to the O.R. three hours later and have her chest reopened because of what turned out to be a loose suture. With morning, however, Shanaw’s prognosis was looking very good. While Shanaw’s aunt prayed outside (since it is the day before the end of Ramadan), we sat in the ICU and were thankful for her progress so far. Having one’s sternum sawed open and major arteries moved around is no small matter, and there is still a great deal of recovery ahead for Shanaw, presuming there are no further setbacks. We’re all hoping that she will continue on the path that she is on so that many others can have the blessing of knowing this little fountain of joy.”

         

Happy Birthday, BSSL! Meet PLC!

July 7, 2008 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

On July 7th, 2007 an amazing thing happened… a guy named Chad was the first of hundreds and hundreds of compassionate people to purchase the as-yet-unknown shoe called Klash. Chad and hundreds like him have given us the encouragement and confidence we’ve needed to keep selling Klash and using the proceeds to fund heart surgeries for Iraqi kids.

And as cliche as this is about to sound, lots of people thought we were crazy. Most thought it was a three week project that we would outgrow. Some thought it was a silly failure to comprehend the real needs of Iraqis. Indeed, at times we probably thought so ourselves. But as one month has turned to twelve, there is no denying the magnetic force behind the simplicity of our message.

The Preemptive Love Coalition, via the “Buy Shoes. Save Lives.” program, has now sent 13 kids to surgery, funding them at various stages along the way to the tune of $36,500. What a pretty tune! We raised and gave away an additional $16,000 for pre-op heart screenings and have money waiting for 6-7 kids that we plan on sending later this month.In 12 months we’ve invested nearly $22,000 into local klash-making economies, plus tens of thousands more into the broader economy as a by-product of operating our business. We’ve sold $33,000 of Klash across the US, UK, Europe, Africa and Australia, and have seen such a range of creativity exercised in helping these children that we sometimes just sit astounded at all you do!

One of the major developments of the past year is the way in which we’ve reorganized under the banner of The Preemptive Love Coalition. After 4 months of selling shoes to save lives we started realizing that we had more to say that “buy shoes. save lives.” We wanted to say “Love your enemies. Do good to those who do bad to you.” In a region where “tit for tat” is the predominant peacemaking method, we wanted to lead out with another option.

Our “this for that” model is as simple as encouraging those who would be with us to find something in their current environment and use it (”this”) in the service of the thousands and thousands of Iraqi who are waiting in a line for life-saving heart surgeries outside the country (”that”).”This for that” is also about giving back love for hate; kindness for oppression; truth for perceptions.

As we look forward to the coming year we envision moving deeper into the hurt of Iraq and working among the more oppressed and excluded groups of people. We want them to know that there is an entire movement of people in America and around the world who will not abide the ongoing retaliatory methods of “peacemaking” in the region. We are those who use all manner of “this” for that - for peace; for kindness; for truth.

We are The Preemptive Love Coalition. Thanks for being with us!

Jeremy, Cody, Michelle, Ruth, Scott, Bobby
Audrey, Angel, Chris, Colby, Jesse, Peter (THE INTERNS)

         

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  • Introducing the Shad Faraydoon Memorial Fund: $50k to Fund 10 Infant Surgeries
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  • Bruska Ready for School in the Fall After Successful Heart Surgery Last January
  • Roshna Surprises All by Passing Her Classes In Spite of Many Absences Prior to Surgery

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