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Shad & The Rest of Us Heading Home to Iraq

June 8, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

After immeasurable sadness and disappointment Shad’s father, Faraydoon; Faraydoon’s brother-in-law who made a special trip from Sweden to be with him in his loss; and PLC’s Jeremy Courtney are boarding a plane Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. in hopes that the logistics firm we hired will be able to complete all of the necessary procedures with Turkish Customs and our partners at Atlasjet airline so that Shad’s body will be able to travel home on the same flight.

We expect scores of people at the airport in Iraq tomorrow afternoon to receive Faraydoon and Shad’s body back and to formally begin the mourning process.

Shad’s life and Shad’s death have affected us each deeply… and it has clearly affected many of you as well. We are so grateful for the depth of your emails and condolences and encouragement that we not grow weary as a result of this horrendous set back but that we push forward for the sake of the thousands of other children in Iraq who - barring a lot of financial generosity and a miracle - could very easily meet a similar end.

         

Zana Plays Football Two Months After Returning From ♥ Surgery

June 2, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

In February Zana entered the Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi hospital in Istanbul, Turkey and underwent one of the most amazing, dangerous heart surgeries out there. Today, thanks to our partners at Kurdistan Save the Children, all of your kind Buy Shoes. Save Lives. purchases, and donations to PLC he is playing football like all the other kids in his neighborhood with barely a care in the world.

All these pictures are courtesy of the wonderful pro bono photographer Matt Addington and PLC’s Followthrough program, whereby we make sure that kids are not sent to surgery only to return to Iraq and be forgotten.

         

Dr. Sertaç Çiçek & His Life-Saving Crew

June 1, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Has there ever been assembled a better group of surgeons to routinely tackle some of the most confounding heart conditions in the world? Iraqi children and all of us at the Preemptive Love Coalition are deeply grateful to this group of Turkish doctors who have given up so much this week to bring life today and peace for tomorrow.

         

Ahmad Out of Surgery! No More Blue Skin! All is Pink & Healthy!

February 17, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Ahmed is out of surgery. His oxygen levels are already up by 25%. His future is hopefully less blue and a more healthy pink. His dad is crying tears of joy.

Dr. Çiçek at the Anadolu Sağlik Merkezi was clear that this is not a long-term, fully corrective solution; but this first surgery should allow him to finally live long enough to receive the staged surgeries he’ll need over the coming years to actually live a fully functional adult life.

We’ll update with more information as soon as we know it.

Follow Ahmad’s daily updates on Twitter or via his RSS feed.

         

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.

         

Welcome to the Coalition, Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi

January 7, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

The Preemptive Love Coalition is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi. Located in the suburbs of Istanbul, Turkey, ASM is a new, state-of-the-art, not-for-profit hospital system affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine and supported by the Anadolu Group, one of Turkey’s leading conglomerates.

The doctors, administrators and staff at ASM are eager to pursue a long-term partnership with PLC to eradicate the backlog of over 3,000 Iraqi children on a waiting list for heart-saving surgery.

Because of the quality and capacities of this hospital, PLC will now be able to send more than twice as many children a month as we are currently able to send. (Of course, we’ll also need to more than double the funding that we have available to take full advantage of this opportunity as well.)

We hope to send our first group of kids to surgery at ASM in early February 2009 and then will hopefully steadily increase the number of children going to surgery there as our financial and personnel resources expand.

We are grateful for this new key partnership and for the hundreds of healed and happy hearts it promises for the future.

         

PLC Partners with Rosa Loves to ‘Save Hussein’

December 8, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Our friends over at Rosa Loves are making some noise with a new shirt they’ve launched in their line of charitable clothing. Sixty percent of the sale from each of their new Hope Transfusion shirts will help send little Hussein to surgery. Hussein’s story is also printed on the inside of the shirt so you never forget your penchant for peace.

Click over to Rosa Loves right now to participate in the Hope Transfusion.

Photos shot by Joshua Shirlen in Washington D.C.

         

PLC Alumni Banquet for Now Healthy Iraqi Kids

September 2, 2008 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

         

Dalton & Addington to work with PLC

August 10, 2008 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

 

The Spartanburg Herald Journal in South Carolina just ran a story about two camermen who are planning on coming to work with PLC in November 2008. 

Read the story here.

Follow the guys at their website:toopenyoureyes.com 

         

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• RECENT POSTS

  • Media Coverage of PLC by Former CNN Anchor & Oprah Radio Host, Daryn Kagan
  • Introducing the Shad Faraydoon Memorial Fund: $50k to Fund 10 Infant Surgeries
  • Ranu Giving Others Rides on Her Bike After Her Successful February Surgery
  • 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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