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Baby Leah is Developing Nicely as We Anticipate a July Surgery Outside Iraq
April 30, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Visiting Leah’s house this week was so much fun. She is developing well and her parents continue to work with her everyday to help her struggle through her Down Syndrome. We gave her some stacking rings, which she picked up and chewed and wore as bracelets while playing with her older sister, Dia, who is two years old.
A few weeks ago Leah’s mom watched me with a careful eye taking in everything I was doing with Leah. She then repeated it all after me to get Leah to engage in play rather than just lay still - which is going to be such a critical part of her development. Now, thanks to this simple modeling session and her mother’s diligence to practice and work with her, Leah can now roll over, sit up with little support, grab and hold toys and giggle about it all.
She is gaining weight steadily and should be just the right size for her surgery in July.
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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. |
The Discipline of Listening
April 28, 2010 by Jeremy · 1 Comment
“Iraq will become a country, if it has not already done so, where it is advisable not to have children,” says the Iraq Minister of Women’s Affairs, before speaking of a gravedigger in Fallujah who digs 4-5 graves daily for children, most of whom are deformed. While official numbers say the overall incidence congenital birth defects is only up “2-3 per year,” there is strong evidence to the contrary.
What should our response be when scientists and medical professionals suggest the chemicals comprising Coalition weapons used throughout the war left behind a legacy of newborns with scales for skin, two heads, spina bifida, or wreckage where the heart should be? It conjures memories of Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons on the Kurdish and Shi’a populations of Iraq, which also left a heightened incidence of birth defects still prevalent today. When we add intra-family marriage and underdeveloped prenatal care to the equation, the questions of value-based impact in Iraq become overwhelming:
What constitutes high-impact for children born with congenital disorders? Are palliative, non-corrective interventions an advisable investment? Is a policy that selects only those who are most-likely to receive a “total correction” preferable? Is that fair? Is it right? Does it say something about our values when we invest in one over another?
When financial and human resources are limited, we are thrown quickly into a life-and-death discussion in which we not only triage children; we triage our very values.
Most everyone agrees “women and children first.” But if every child cannot be served, how should we spend our finite resources to make the most significant impact? What values should guide us?
It’s a highly personal question. But it should also be a communal question. We should not be left to our best individual guesses, nor guided by our whims and fancies. We should not fail to think about impact, priority, and purpose in our giving and serving. Research shows that most give for personal reasons before giving for the sake of others (and, I’d suggest that there is little wrong with that… see article one, two, and three). I might give to assuage my guilt or to be a part of something significant. I might give because I believe it is fundamental to my faith. I might give because I want my children to be marked by a character of deference. And, yes, I might even give because I want children in Iraq to live; to know that I was a part of that; to know my life matters.
But in order for me to really know my gift matters - that is, to be sure that my gift is significant beyond making me feel significant - I must understand the context of the problems I seek to solve with my giving. That is why the Discipline of Listening is crucial for any act of giving to be an act of love. The impulse to give may arise first in my heart from my need to feel significant, but an act becomes truly loving when it moves beyond personal preference and seeks to maximally benefit the recipient. And in order to know what benefits the community of recipients, we have to listen well.
In Iraq we face this every day. In whom should we invest our limited resources: (a) the child with the best story, (b) the child with the highest urgency, (c) the child with the greatest likelihood of long-term vitality? We’ve arrived at our values through years of listening to the community we serve–and we are constantly reevaluating them. So when it comes to selecting a child for lifesaving heart surgery, we live in the tension between our impulse to be “last chancers” and our instinct to be “long termers.” But we prioritize according to a regularly scrutinized impact matrix derived from the Discipline of Listening.
When facing 24,000+ children in Iraq waiting in-line for lifesaving heart surgery*, there is great risk in rushing to action, which can lead to an unnecessary duplication of services, redundancy of resources, and - most critically - the failure to leverage indigenous passion toward long-term, local solutions.
But when we practice the discipline of listening in our local and global communities, we increase the likelihood that our actions will not only be well-intentioned, but that they will actually be effective and loving.
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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. |
Baby Leena Leaves Iraq for Urgent Surgery in Turkey
April 14, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
It was about mid-morning on Sunday when Leena’s dad came into our office, frantically looking for help for his daughter who was dying before his eyes from her congenital heart defect.
We contacted our partners in Istanbul at the Anadolu Medical Center and they concurred: it might be too late for Leena, now 50 days old, but if there was any remaining chance she should come immediately.
With unprecedented speed we worked with Leena’s father and their extended family to get Leena to surgery. The family and friend network rallied quickly sold their car and rallied with a total of $10,000. Within just a few hours we were able to get our local staff, Leena, and her mother on the very last seats out of Iraq on Tuesday’s flight to Istanbul.
The picture above is Leena’s last moments with her father before leaving him to go back to the village where he is 8 year old Mohammed Star’s elementary school teacher, whom we sent to surgery in November 2009.
Are you looking for a way to get involved? Let us suggest the following three actions:
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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. |
Deelan Calls Daddy in Iraq: “I’m Coming Home!”
March 11, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Press the “forward” button above to view and read the captioned slideshow about Deelan’s journey through surgery and the phone call to his daddy in Iraq that brought tears to our eyes!
COPY AND PASTE THE CODE BELOW TO EMBED THIS SLIDESHOW IN YOUR OWN WEBSITE
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Are you looking for a way to get involved? Let us suggest the following three actions:
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Follow Deelan on Twitter: @DeelanKameran. Subscribe to Deelan’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Deelan’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.
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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. |
Meet Sara (Twitter: SaraMuaeed)
March 4, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Meet Sara. Sara hails from the still contested, disputed, and much-disrupted city of Kirkuk, Iraq. So disrupted, in fact, that there were reportedly four bomb explosions in Kirkuk the day before Sara left for Turkey.
Sara’s father works in a local anti-terrorist security unit. Given the backdrop of “Arabization” reaching back decades, conventional Kurdish storytelling now often says that all the terrorists are Arabs and that all the danger lives in the Arab part of city.
Those of us at the Preemptive Love Coalition can speak to that terrible stereotype by referencing our own run-ins with Kurdish terror conspirators. So in hopes of tearing down harmful stereotypes, we’re excited that Sara’s family has drawn so close to baby Deelan’s mother during their surgical sojourn together in Turkey - because Deelan’s mother is an Arab from Kirkuk.
We brought Sara to surgery because of a valve problem she is having that is threatening her life and possibly the life of her future children. At 14 years old, the window of operability for Sara is narrowing. And if she had not experienced your kindness and received surgery, she would likely die during pregnancy or childbirth due to the extreme toll such changes take on the body.
Today, under the skill of Prof. Dr. Sertaç Çiçek, Sara will receive the valve repair she needs and - GOD willing - will be set free to enjoy her adolescent and adult life with much joy and little fear.
Sara is scheduled for surgery on Thursday. More to come…
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Special thanks to the college students of FWCM.org for their phenomenal $14,800+ two week fundraising campaign for Sara and one other child. Your passion and effectiveness in fundraising is a testament to the faith, values and lifestyle you profess. We’re looking for 12 other houses of worship, schools, and clubs to partner with us in 2010. For more on our 2010 Fifty Family Focus, click here. |
Follow Sara on Twitter: @SaraMuaeed. Subscribe to Sara’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Sara’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.
*In accordance with PLC’s desire to lend a hand-up by avoiding strict hand-outs (when possible), Sara’s family contributed $6,500 towards PLC’s highly-discounted surgery prices.
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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. |
Meet Deelan (Twitter: @DeelanKameran)
March 2, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Deelan arrived in Istanbul, Turkey last night on a plane from Iraq thanks to Atlasjet Airlines and the generous support they’ve offered to help us get this February group to surgery. If you are one of our summer interns, we highly recommend that you choose Atlasjet to fly into Iraq.
Our Family Services Director, Jessica Courtney, (who, if you’re keeping score at home, is also my wife) accompanied Deelan, his mother, and one other family to Istanbul last night to round out our February/March group of surgeries.
Special thanks to the Alice Abdi at the Anadolu Medical Center for the continual support, for staying late at the hospital to receive these dear kids, and for sending - as always - a special private van to pick up these fearful families. This keeps our costs low, speeds up our travel, and most importantly, shows the kind hearted desires of so many here in Turkey as they reach out to Kurds and the rest of the people of Iraq in providing these deeply discounted, life-saving heart surgeries.
Deelan is not doing well at all - crying nearly constantly and facing down dangerously high pulmonary pressure in addition to the huge hole between the lower two chambers of his heart .
Deelan is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday.
Follow Deelan on Twitter: @DeelanKameran. Subscribe to Deelan’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Deelan’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.
*In accordance with PLC’s desire to lend a hand-up by avoiding strict hand-outs (when possible), Deelan’s family contributed $5,000 towards PLC’s highly-discounted surgery prices.
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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. |
Meet Baroof (Twitter: @BaroofAbdul)
March 1, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Baroof is the fourth of the initial four children we brought with us to Iraq on February 23rd. He came to us through an organization in northern Iraq. When Prof. Dr. Sertaç Çiçek and his team saw Baroof in our Iraq screening two weeks ago, they wondered whether or not he would be operable. In any case, the window of operability was certainly closing quickly.
Baroof’s condition is known as an “aortopulmonary window” - or AP window - a rare heart defect in which a hole between the major blood vessel feeding the heart and the one going to the lungs. AP windows are so very rare they account for approximately .1% of all congenital heart defects according to U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Baroof was admitted to a diagnostic catheterization on Thursday night in which Dr. Levent from the Anadolu Medical Center determined he would be operable - and confirmed that he very much needed surgery… and fast.
More information to come on Baroof…
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.
*In accordance with PLC’s desire to lend a hand-up by avoiding strict hand-outs (when possible), Baroof’s family worked with the regional government and with personal and government funds contributed $6,000 towards PLC’s highly-discounted surgery prices.
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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. |
Meet Dua (Twitter: @Dua_Arif)
February 24, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
We met Dua and her family through a partnering organization on the northern Iraq-Turkey border near the area where Dua lives. As a result, we’re just now getting to know her (whereas we’ve had relationship with some of these other families for months).
Dua was diagnosed in Iraq with “tricuspid atresia” - a defect that only accounts for 1-3% of all congenital heart defects. In short, this defect means there is an absence of the tricuspid valve. From Wikipedia (because a lot of other sites prohibit quoting their information!):
Therefore, there is an absence of right atrioventricular connection. This leads to a hypoplastic (undersized) or absent right ventricle. This defect is contracted during prenatal development, when the heart does not finish developing. It causes the heart to be unable to properly oxygenate the rest of the blood in the body. Because of this, the body does not have enough oxygen to live, and steps must be taken to keep the child alive.
And for bonus points, you can click here to read more on the Fontan procedure for which Dua is a candidate (though her operability is still undetermined).
Follow Dua Arif on Twitter: @Dua_Arif. Subscribe to Dua’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Dua’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.
*In accordance with PLC’s desire to lend a hand-up by avoiding strict hand-outs (when possible), Dua’s family worked with the regional government and with personal and government funds contributed $6,000 towards PLC’s highly-discounted surgery prices.
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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. |
Meet Sozyar (Twitter: @SozyarHamdan)
February 24, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
The team of Turkish doctors personally pre-screened and selected Sozyar for surgery when they were with us in Iraq last week working with us to promote more local (Iraqi) solutions to these local problems.
Sozyar was referred to us by a local organization, saying she was in need of “urgent surgery.” Because of the tremendous cooperation of the Anadolu Medical Center and Prof. Dr. Sertaç Çiçek we are almost always able to fast track children like this and see them served before it’s too late. They visited us and we sent Sozyar to surgery in exactly two weeks. We could not do that without your faithful giving and the highly interested and capable Turkish team.
You can click here to read more on the Fontan procedure that the doctors plan on performing for Sozyar.
Follow baby Sozyar on Twitter: @SozyarHamdan. Subscribe to Sozyar’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Sozyar’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.
*In accordance with PLC’s desire to lend a hand-up by avoiding strict hand-outs (when possible), Sozyar’s family contributed $4,000 towards PLC’s highly-discounted surgery prices.
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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. |
Meet Muhammed (Twitter: @MuhammedAdnan)
February 24, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Muhammed’s presence in our life is a testament to the way the Preemptive Love Family Services Team has lived out our Core Values - namely, our pursuit of excellence (or constant improvement) and the way we seek to provide whole solutions for whole people. But all that sounds a little vague, so let me break it down…
In February 2009 a Kurdish soldier knocked on the door of our office. Though I hadn’t done anything wrong, I was sure I was about to be hauled in to give an account for something ridiculous. Thankfully, I was wrong. His name was Hywa and his daughter needed a life-saving surgery…. very urgently. We fast-tracked his family to surgery, but unfortunately he had already missed the optimal surgery window for his daughter when he first appealed to us. His little baby died in March 2009.
But Hywa and I formed a friendship that was somehow wrapped up in our mutual efforts to save his child’s life. When we put Honyar on that plane to Istanbul there was an initial feeling that we had both succeeded. And as I stayed back with him in Iraq, we cried together, somehow feeling like we had both failed that day she died. Of course, it was not the same grief for me as it was for him, and I would dishonor him to imply otherwise. But we celebrated, mourned, and grew together.
A few months later Hywa referred his friend Sami to us because Sami’s boy Danar was dying from a similar heart defect. We sent Danar to surgery in January 2010 and Danar can be seen doing really well after his surgery in our video of follow-up echos a few days ago.
After Danar returned from surgery, his father, Sami, referred Adnan to us because Adnan’s son is similarly facing death from extremely high pressure in his lungs as a result of two large holes in his heart.
Call it the “butterfly effect” or “serendipity” or “Providence” or a “job well done.” I’m really proud of our Family Services Team and all the work they’ve done to leave a lasting impact on families like Hywa, Sami, and… hopefully… little Muhammed’s family.
Follow Muhammed Adnan on Twitter: @MuhammedAdnan. Subscribe to Muhammed’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Muhammed’s thread of longer stories (with pictures & video) on the PLC blog HERE.
*In accordance with PLC’s desire to lend a hand-up by avoiding strict hand-outs (when possible), Muhammed’s family told us they would sell their car to help their son and ultimately gave $6,500 towards PLC’s highly-discounted surgery prices.
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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. |
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