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Shwan Is Growing So Fast Now That His Heart is Repaired!
April 29, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Photo by Heber Vega
It’s been awhile since we visited Shwan in his village near Ranya in northern Iraq after sending him to a much-needed surgery in May 2009. He has officially “graduated” from our Family Followthrough program and has grown a great deal, re-engaged in school, and increased his activity out in the streets and parks with other boys his age. He’s a soccer (football) fanatic - he even brought his favorite trading cards with him to surgery last May!
The free flow of oxygenated blood throughout his body now that the hole in his heart has been closed has allowed for much more physical energy and brain energy. He seems to really enjoy school now - his father is a mathematics teacher!
We do not do our work her so that we will be thanked or praised. But it sure does feel nice when people appreciate the efforts expended on their behalf and for their well-being. That’s one of the reasons that it is such a joy to visit Shwan’s family: they are genuinely grateful and it shows.
Photo by Heber Vega
The occasion for our visit had a lot to do with our friend Lawan Hawizy in London and his efforts to run in the Paris Semi Marathon to raise money for other kids like Shwan. Lawan’s brother, Salan, traveled with us to inspect our work and our relationships with the families so that he could help inform Lawan’s fundraising efforts and work himself as a Kurd in northern Iraq to raise money for some of these children. After our visit Lawan went on to run (and finish!) the Paris Semi and raised $2,000 for our February Surgery Group.
Many thanks to all who have given so that dear children like Shwan can enjoy their childhood, can see firsthand the benefits of learning to give your time and resources away so that others might benefit, and can learn of a world where hate is not the only option.
NEXT IN LINE FOR SURGERY
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Unlike so many kids we see, Bawar has a condition that makes him a great candidate for a total correction. If we are able to send him to surgery in the next three months, he has a great chance of living a totally normal life. Bawar will hopefully be the 62nd child for whom we’ve provided surgery with your help! As you’ve seen with Shwan above, you really can make a profound difference in his life!
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| Do you intend on volunteering your time in the near future? May we suggest three ways to volunteer your time with the Preemptive Love Coalition to save children’s lives in Iraq: | |
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1.) Sign up for our newsletter to stay apprised of news and ways you can advocate on behalf of Bawar and others to save lives in Iraq. |
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2.) Write a blog post, email, or old-fashioned snail mail letter to your friends alerting them to the situation facing Bawar and let them know that there are solutions available that yield results as fantastic as Shwan’s! |
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3.) Send out a “tweet” or a message about us on Facebook, suggesting your friends check out Bawar’s opportunity to receive lifesaving heart surgery. (HINT: You can also use the “SHARE” button below. |
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For more volunteering ideas send an email to cody@preemptivelove.org.
To give, please use the fast and simple form 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. |
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. |
Leena Returns to Iraq without Surgery
April 27, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
An shot from Leena’s catheter procedure revealing a misdiagnosis and heightened risk for surgery and post-operative course.
It was not an easy decision - and only the second time we’ve ever made it - but a misdiagnosis in Iraq brought us to a fork in the road in Istanbul: (a) take on a high-risk, complicated surgery with a long post-operative course or (b) use the limited resources we have at our disposal to provide a higher impact, less risky surgery for other children waiting in line.
These are not decisions that are easy enough to summarize in a few sentences. These are not “one-for-one” tradeoffs and the complexities can bring otherwise decisive, Type-A people to a complete deadlock. Leena is dear to us, irreplaceable to her family, and precious in the sight of GOD. But there are times when providing surgery for one feels like an act of treason against another. In our case, Leena was a last minute, highly urgent, highly complicated surgery who applied in the midst of our attempts to fulfill previous commitments to less complicated, less risky, more predictable children.
It broke our hearts and we made the decision slowly over 4-5 days through many tears and prayers. But in the end, we sent Leena back to Iraq.
We contacted our friends at Shevet Achim and asked them to consider Leena for surgery and found out that her cardiologist and Kurdistan Save the Children in Iraq had already made the appeal as well. We are very grateful to them for filling in for the family at a time when we were unable.
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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. |
Sara is Doing Great Back in Iraq One Month After Surgery
April 25, 2010 by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Sara and her father came by our office on their way to a check-up with the local cardiologist, Dr. Aso Faeq.
It was a joy to see her and talk with her. She is doing great and is enjoying a little time off from school. We talked about picnics and the results of recent elections. They told us in detail of their visits to Deelan’s family, who also went to surgery in March. They amazed me with their love for this little boy they didn’t even know until they met at the airport on their way to Istanbul. It is great to see healed hearts, bright futures, and relationships formed (and/or sustained) across some recent - and some more historic - barriers between Turkmen, Kurd and Arab in the city of Kirkuk.
We ended our time with them celebrating with the fresh baklava and chocolates they brought to say “thank you.” Thanks to all of you Woodway college students Sara is alive and thriving with her newly healed heart.
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.
ADOPT A CHILD
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Churches, universities, and other organized groups were the backbone of our large fundraising efforts in 2009—and now we’re looking for at least 12 churches, mosques, synagogues, universities, youth groups, etc to adopt an single Iraqi child to raise life-saving awareness and funds on his/her behalf. Group goals usually range between $5,000–10,000—though we’ve seen junior high groups raise over $8k and college students pull together $30k! |
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Jessica Courtney lives and loves in Iraq as a co-founder and Family Services Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. She is also a mother of two children and is married to PLC's Executive Director, Jeremy Courtney. When not absorbed in caring for Iraqi children and sharing life with Iraqi families, she enjoys sewing and scrapbooking. |
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. |
Sozyar Admitted to Hospital in Iraq for Pneumonia; Treatment Going Well
April 11, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Sweet little Sozie is back in the hospital this week with pneumonia. Her heart is doing well but she will be in the children’s hospital here for a few weeks receiving a strong antibiotic by IV and with a chest tube in until her lungs are clear.
Our family services team is checking in on her and she is doing well despite the infection. We have been in contact with our surgeon in Istanbul who says she should be well soon and the protocol our local pediatrician and cardiologist are following now is what she needs.
We hope she will be feeling better soon. Until then, she is in her bed asking for kisses on her feet and blowing kisses herself to everyone who comes to visit. We can’t wait to visit her at home. We know she must be very tired of hospital beds after these last two months. Despite all of this, her family is taking great care of her fighting to make sure she has all she needs to feel better soon.
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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, Dua, and Sara Arrive Home After Hassle with Airline
March 14, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Deelan, Dua, and Sara all went home on March 14 from Turkey with healed hearts, hopeful for the future ahead of them! Unfortunately, a tremendous amount of drama associated with the airline company and their departure wrapped us up for much of the week, unable to find much time to blog with reduced staff.
There has been a lot of finger pointing this week, but the airline did not schedule our kids home on the flight like they told us they had by email three days before the flight. This resulted in three kids, three moms, and one of our staff arriving at 9 p.m. at the airport only to hear that there was (1) no room left on the flight and (2) we didn’t have tickets for our kids in any case.
Somehow seats opened up and we were able to pay to “close” our tickets at the counter. But it left our kids in a terrible situation and the airline’s lack of cooperation was a huge trust-breaker. We’ll be considering other options for all future surgical and personal trips in/out of Iraq.
But at the end of the day, the children are all home safe, celebrating Newroz today - the “Kurdish” New Year!
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.
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.
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.
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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. |
Three Kids Headed Home with Happy, Healthy Hearts
March 10, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
This doesn’t look like the happiest group of people, but trust us, they are! It was 6 a.m. at an airport! Few are happy in that context!
It’s been a great journey for Muhammed, Baroof, and Sozyar. Both Muhammed and Sozyar were “urgent.” It was unclear whether Muhammed or Baroof would even be operable. And look at them today!
In our talks today with Dr. Resmiye at the Anadolu Medical Center she used words like “miracle” and “unbelievable” and “they won their lives back” to describe these kids.
Usually we try to keep a healthy balance of the “miraculous” and that which can be reasonable calculated according to the medical numbers. It’s hard to build a budget around miracles! But we are thrilled to celebrate GOD’s kindness in the lives of these children alongside the Turkish doctors who, themselves, have said that it is GOD’s doing and not just their own.
By the time this posts, Muhammed, Baroof, and Sozyar will be resting at home - in the city or the village - with their daddies and extended families who have been missing them so much.
As much as the surgery at this point, the fact that you’ve paid for round trip airfare through our partnership with Atlasjet Airlines for these kids is a great source of comfort, because healing means precious little when it separates you from the ones you love the most!
These children are now enrolled in the Preemptive Love Followthrough program. We’ll track their progress as Baroof goes back to school and Muhammed and Sozyar learn how to walk, and we’ll offer a number of services to them for the next six months (and often, much longer).
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Followthrough Program
With our Followthrough program we monitor a child’s healing and re-entry into their home culture, teach the importance of activity and a balanced diet, and address issues like racism and other radical ideologies. This amount represents the costs of medications, special needs, teaching materials, etc.
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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.
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.
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.
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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. |
Sozyar’s Smiles (VIDEO)
March 10, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
When Sozyar came to our office a few weeks ago she was urgent enough for the referring organization to ask that we do everything we could to move her to the front of the line.
Within two weeks she was in surgery with Dr. Sertac Cicek in Istanbul, Turkey - that may be a record turnaround for any organization working on congenital heart disease issues in Iraq today.
After a few days recovering in ICU, she was discharged to her private room where she has been the last few days.
And look at her today!
Gone is the blue skin from lack of oxygen; gone is the threat to her life; and here to stay - for some time it seems - are smiles and joy and kisses and waves and “that winky thing” she does.
Hers is a story of cooperation. It’s a story of your kindness. It’s a story of compassion.
Thanks for all you’ve given for Sozyar to live.
With thanks and joy!
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.
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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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