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!

An Interactive Graphic Overview of What We’ve Been Up to for the Last Few Years

August 23, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment

Drag and drop and click and scroll and comment and push and play your way through some of our [online] activity from the last year.

Special Features of Note:

Be sure to Click on Map>Play Events for a Worldwide Conversation of Sorts Between Our Offices Around the World

View fullscreen below for more room to play around!

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL SCREEN VERSION

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.

Filed under: A Thin Place, ASD, AhmadBakhtiyar, Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi, Aria, Art, AtlasJet, Bruska, Coverage, DaryanSalah, Family Participation, Financial Transparency, Forgotten Story, Giving Away Money, Go Blog It!, Heart Surgery, Heran, Hussein2, Internship, KadeejaMahdi, Lawaran, LawenKemal, MazyarTahir, News, Our Kids, Partnerships, Peacemaking, RanuBahadeen, Rashna, Rezhin, Roman, RuzhanFeris, Sad, SerhangYaseen, Shad, Shad Faraydoon Memorial Fund, Shwan, Store, TGA, TOF, TOF/DORV, TabanAli, URGENT, VSD, Volunteers, ZanaTofiq, misdiagnosis, mohammedgaelan, surgery updates, tarza

Banquet & Carnival in Iraq Celebrates Hope & A Future for Twenty of Our PLC Alumni Kids

August 20, 2009 by Jeremy · 1 Comment

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Eight year old Ahmad was on the brink of death when we met him. Now he’s rambunctious and carries his little sister all around the place!

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Turkey Director, Scott Bertrand, with Hospitality Coordinator, Abby Bertrand, and Rezhin’s family.

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Physical Therapist and Family Advocate, Ruth Simpson, at the banquet.

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Executive Director, Jeremy Courtney, with Roman and his father amidst the fun and games.

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PLC 2009 Summer Intern, Joshua Gigliotti, and Mohammed

Dear Preemptive Lovers,

In the midst of our most recent series of life-saving surgeries being conducted in Istanbul, Turkey for Iraqi kids we wanted to pause on the drama and reflect for a moment on what you’ve helped us do in the past year together. To date you’ve helped us give 44 children the surgeries they so seriously needed and we’ve raised/given away over $250,000.

In celebration of this we hosted our second annual PLC Alumni Kids Banquet on July 17, 2009 in Iraq for all of the children we’ve served between August 2008 and June 2009. We had over twenty families in attendance, a small team of volunteers from a church in Texas that helped fund the banquet, and 8 summer interns from all over the U.S. We also had special guests from the local community, including renowned artists, political players, and medical professionals.

But the stars were, of course, the children themselves. What a joy it was to see little boys with brand new soccer balls - a gift that would have previously been something of a cruel joke for most of these boys. The girls came decked out in the party attire and the children were showered with thousands of dollars in gifts from supporters in the States.

It’s been a great year (we just missed announcing our second organizational birthday amidst the flurry of activity) and it’s hard to believe that we’re able to live out this dream. And we wouldn’t be able to without you… So here’s to you and the kids you’ve helped. It’s a joy to be a facilitator of your love and kindness in the world.

For Hope & Future,

Jeremy Courtney
Executive Director

Filed under: AhmadBakhtiyar, Amazed, Bruska, Go Blog It!, Heran, Internship, KadeejaMahdi, Lawaran, LawenKemal, News, Our Kids, RanuBahadeen, Rashna, Rezhin, Roman, Shwan, TabanAli, Volunteers, ZanaTofiq, tarza

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

June 26, 2009 by Ruth · Leave a Comment

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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.

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.

Filed under: Amazed, Internship, Our Kids, Rashna, surgery updates