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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! |
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Heran Has Infection Around Her Heart 9 Months After Surgery
February 5, 2010 by Ruth · Leave a Comment
Heran had surgery in May 2009 - the first of two surgeries she’ll need to be considered completely healed. Heran is currently sick with an infection in her heart and Dr. Aso, our local pediatric cardiologist in Iraq, has recommended that she stay in hospital for the course of her antibiotic treatment so that she can be closely monitored.
She was disappointed that she doesn’t have a nice hospital room with her own personal TV like she had during her at Anadolu Medical in Turkey. There aren’t any TV’s at all available for her to watch here so we were pleased that we were able to lend her a mini portable DVD player for her stay as it will be 6-7 weeks which is a long time for anyone and a lifetime for a 7-year-old girl. She was very excited about it!
She’s been very brave so far with so many blood tests and having her cannula site changed every few days. I’ve been visiting her every couple of days for countless games of ‘Uno’! She loves that game!
Heran has been sick a lot these past few months, so we’re hoping that after this infection clears up she will be able to be back at school and that her immune system will become stronger. Visiting is limited to just 2 days a week here so both her and her mother are missing the rest of the family plus she’s missing school a lot too.
We’re thankful for special permission to visit her anytime. So we’ll do our best to keep you posted on her progress.
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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. |
Soma Salah Has Passed Away Due to a Blood Clot in Lungs (b. July 24, 2009 - d. January 10, 2010)
January 11, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
It’s with a heavy heart that I write today to say that Baby Soma passed away at 11:45 p.m., Sunday, January 10th, 2010. I had just gotten off the phone with the church in Texas that funded her surgery and given them the update about her serious condition, while thanking them for taking a risk on her surgery. I didn’t know it at the time, but as they finished their lunch in Texas, Soma’s life was on the line in Istanbul.
It was a blood clot in her lungs - something for which the ECMO machine couldn’t compensate. The surgeons left the comfort of their homes and families in the middle of the night to respond but there was nothing to be done.
Last week I said that the Preemptive Love Coalition was not a heart surgery organization, as though chalking up another heart surgery was of some importance. I said we were a HOPE BANK where parents come for hope transfusions - a global family alongside whom Iraqi families could stand in the face of hopelessness, and finally see light at the end of the dark night. And I said that it was for long-term impact that we had decided to take the risk on Soma’s surgery.
So how should we understand our decision today? Did we make the right choice? Did we hasten her death? Was it worth it? Was it a failure? Are we complicit?
Everyone will judge us by their own criterion. Indeed, our own answers and emotions have run the gammut this week. This was a huge surprise for us. We had braced ourselves for long-term loss. We were entirely unprepared for loss in the short-term (even though the doctors had only offered a sobering 65% chance of her surviving ICU).
From an organizational stand point, I owe you an answer as to whether or not we count this as a success or failure so you know what to expect from us in the future.
1. This is a failure. We don’t exist for heart surgeries. We exist to impact the children who are most “impactable” for the long-term. In fact, we turn many children away because their long-term well-being is best served by non-surgical solutions. All other things being equal (and they never are), we would use our limited resources to offer surgery to a child who is most likely to be alive with a healthy heart in sixty years before we help a child who will be hanging on by a thread with a dying heart at twenty. In that sense, we invested our money in a bit of a gamble with Soma because we knew that there were other kids back in Iraq who were more highly “impactable.” It would be easy to argue that we didn’t make it past good intentions this time and that this was an “impact fail.” We welcome that critique. And if that is how you’d like your money invested, we are here to put your money to work. At the same time…
2. This is a success. The Preemptive Love Coalition consistently offers hope, help, and life-saving heart surgeries to children that have been rejected by one or more of the other options available to them. Whether it is a question of resource allocation, ethical priorities, or surgical skill, many of the lives we have successfully saved have been turned down by the government, local, or international groups - including Kadeeja, Heran, and Ahmed . We were - as far as anyone knew - their last chance; their last hope. Soma was one of these.
We spoke seriously with Soma’s parents about the risks. In the end, it was not really the Preemptive Love Coalition who decided to do the surgery. What we did was give them the green light to use our funds and choose for themselves. They chose to risk it and in that limited sense, we gave the family what they asked for - a chance at life. And that chance - that hope - is precisely what they had not found in any other government, hospital, or organization. We told them We love you. You matter to us and to God.. From the hope perspective; from the love perspective, this was not a failure. We chose to love; and love deeply.
3. Still, this is a wake up call. We have asked you a number of times what kind of organization you would have us be. Your overwhelming answer is that you’d like us to be people of the last chance. Some families in Iraq are unnervingly content to sit by and deny their children are dying. We’ve seen it a number of times. It defies all reason. But many more are ready to risk it all for a chance to see their 7 month old learn to crawl, go to school, and marry someday. For those families, you’ve declared your intention to stand by their side. And we have used your financial gifts to fulfill your wishes.
Soma stands as a monument of hope for other Last Chance Children. We don’t have to burry her story with her body for fear that it will reflect negatively on our work; for fear that fewer Iraqi children will be helped because of the “bad press.” To us, this isn’t bad press. This is love in motion.
Jon Foreman sings, “If it doesn’t break your heart it isn’t love.”
This is a wake up call because there are going to be more little babies like Soma that break our hearts. Brace yourselves. If you’re in this for the long haul with us, we can promise you:
- 1. We will give it everything we have and we will give families HOPE and a shot at life.
- 2. We will see more death.
- 3. We will love until we bleed out and have nothing left.
With you,
Jeremy Courtney
Executive Director
jeremy [at] preemptivelove.org
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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. |
“Take My Eyes Just Save My Child” Cries Soma’s Mom On the Way to Surgery
January 8, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
The extended deliberation and explanation about the risks of Soma’s particular surgery was not easy on Soma’s mom - or her dad by telephone back in Iraq. So when it came time to wheel her down to the operating room, emotions were running pretty high and fears were even more piqued than some of the other mothers.
Soma is in surgery right now. More to come in a few hours…
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We can do surgeries like this because hundreds of people every year give generously to cover the material costs of surgery to impact the future of kids in Iraq. |
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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. |
Mohammed’s Mom Waits Anxiously for Fever to Subside; Surgery Delayed until Monday
January 7, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
A fever presented itself today in Mohammed Umed. As a precautionary measure doctors have delayed his surgery to observe and investigate what may be causing the fever. In the interim period, his mother is understandably anxious as she has now sat by while two other kids have had their chance before hers. Of course, they are all in this together, but it’s easy enough to relate to her desire to be “first” and not “last” in a critical scenario like this.
So this Kurdish mother from Iraq waits in Turkey while her husband serves as a soldier in Baghdad and the rest of her family is at home. Together we are all hoping the fever will not prove to be the result of anything serious; hoping that Mohammed’s chance at surgery is not delayed any further.
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Follow Mohammed on Twitter: @MohammedUmed. Subscribe to Mohammed’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Mohammed’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. |
As Hamma Is Accepted to Surgery We See Chance to Mend Wounds Inflicted By Others
January 6, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
After a mostly restful day recouping from international travel and the shock of being around yet another group of foreigners, Hamma and his mom were excited to hear that he had been accepted as a strong candidate for surgery in the morning, January 7th.
We say “another group of foreigners” because Hamma’s family were victims of a cruel scheme in which they were robbed of thousands of dollars earlier last year while seeking surgery from a neighboring country. In the end - and this story has been corroborated by a number of close and independent sources - the family was left with a dying child, thousands of dollars stolen from them, and a lot of distrust of foreigners eager to “help” them.
Hopefully we can begin repairing the damage done - on all accounts.
Tomorrow will tell…
Follow Hamma on Twitter: @HammaDana. Subscribe to Hamma’s updates via RSS HERE. Follow Hamma’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. |
Toyota (Yeah, the Auto Maker) Features PLC in Their “Get in Gear” Campaign
October 19, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
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David Statham visited PLC in Iraq in April 2009 after his wife bought an intriguing shirt that said, “Buy Shoes. Save Lives.” on it. Statham, Technology Manager for Toyota Motor Sales (USA) for his day job, has gone on to raise thousands of dollars and tons of awareness for PLC in Toyota and in his home state of California. Statham also serves on the PLC Advisory Board. |
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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. |
Daryan Salah Has Passed Away (b. March 20, 2009 - d. September 4, 2009)
September 4, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
This is the post we hoped we’d never write… but Daryan Salah gave up the fight for his life today at 5:40 a.m. in Istanbul, Turkey after over a month in ICU waiting for his lungs to recover. We spoke with Daryan’s mother and father (and extended family) in our Iraq office this morning and wept bitterly with them over the loss of this dear boy.
Like them, we ourselves are looking for meaning in today’s chaos. The earth is broken. There’s got to be more than “making the world a better place.” We do not need a patch… we need an overhaul…
But maybe HOPE still wins today, because even in Daryan’s death hundreds of you around the world have been drawn in by the story of a little boy who might have otherwise been labeled an “enemy.” And in the devastation we’re all reminded that organizations like ours are powerless to do anything but patchwork repair. Overhaul - indeed re-creation - will have to come from somewhere else.
Daryan, you expanded our hearts’ collective capacity to hope. Rest in peace, little brother.
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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 Daryan To Receive What Might Be His Last Chance at Life Tomorrow
August 30, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
It’s been over month now that Baby Daryan has been intubated in ICU in Istanbul, Turkey. All of the tests say that his heart is doing great… completely repaired. But the pressure that has built up in his lungs will not come down. Or, more accurately, it has not consistently stayed down.
But tomorrow the doctors hope to try again to extubate Daryan in hopes that his pressures will stay down this time; that he will breath on his own; and that he will live a long life with his completely healthy heart.
We don’t have anything else to say or speculate. The only thing left to do at this point is to hope and pray and believe.
Follow 4-month-old Daryan on Twitter: @daryansalah. Subscribe to Daryan’s updates via RSS here. Follow Daryan’s thread of longer stories (with pictures) 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. |
Ramyar’s Family Decides to Forgo Surgery, Return to Iraq Tonight
August 30, 2009 by awara · Leave a Comment
Yesterday was the very difficult day that we all hoped we would have to face with Ramyar and his family. We hoped when the medical signs showed Ramyar to be “operable” it would mean that there was a pretty clear cut way forward and that all parties would feel equally confident about embarking on that path of surgical therapy.
Instead, even though the medical signs said he was technically operable, everything else said that the surgery would be a serious fight for his life. In this case, “operable” did not mean “desirable.”
So we were left at a fork in the road with Ramyar and his family: should we press forward with what might be a surgical salvation, or should we play it safe, enjoy the next few years with Ramyar, and walk out with the full knowledge that forgoing this surgery will consign him to a deterioration in his quality of life over the next few years until he ultimately dies at age six or seven.
The most complicating factor had to do with the lack of unity among Ramyar’s family as to what should be done. Those of us closest to the decision in PLC were leaning toward not doing the surgery… as was the mother… but the father in Iraq was insisting that we all press forward.
In the end, at 8 p.m. Friday night Ramyar’s father and mother agree amongst themselves (without any input from PLC) that they wanted to forgo the surgery and enjoy these next years with Ramyar with some sort of certainty as to what they can expect.
From every perspective it was a sad day… except the perspective that sees Ramyar reunited with his father and grandparents in Iraq able to live out the next few years surrounded by people who love him.
This is the first close call like this we’ve ever had to make. Until today, every child has fit comfortably into the “operable” or “inoperable” category and parents have been confident in moving forward based on the information they had available to them.
NOTE: As an aside on financial transparency, the family’s $2,500 that they contributed to the overall cost of what would have been his surgery has covered all of the costs of their airfare, housing, food, and diagnostic testing for Ramyar. PLC has not expended any of our internationally fundraised dollars on this screening/selection process and all of the funds we had budgeted for Ramyar will be redirected to a child in the near future.
Follow 4-year-old Ramyar on Twitter: @ramyarjafar. Subscribe to Ramyar’s updates via RSS here. Follow Ramyar’s thread of longer stories (with pictures) on the PLC blog here.
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Awara Hassan Mama is a Regional Development Officer for the Preemptive Love Coalition in charge of creating local solutions to local problems in Iraq among his compatriots and for the sake of our constituents. Awara often travels abroad with PLC children to surgery and serves as a translator and a key cooperator between communities in conflict. |
A Fork in the Road for Ramyar: His Surgery Will Be Very Risky If We Proceed
August 28, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
That’s what one guy reminded us when we struggled out loud with the difficulty of balancing our responsibility is to a single child - usually the one in front of us - against our responsibility to every other child out there waiting in line for life-saving heart surgery outside the country.
Today that mantle which should belong to God alone seems like it is thrust upon us once again.
It was questionable as to whether or not Ramyar would be “operable.” I guess we were hoping for a fairly black and white “go” or “no.” Instead, the medical experts have said that Ramyar is operable, but they’ve also said that it will be extremely dangerous - full of risks, extra expenses, and no guarantees - except, of course, that the post-operative course will be very long and slow.
We are talking with Ramyar’s family about the risks and what should be done. But the risks… and the expenses… it’s so hard to know what to do. It’s scary to think that the very surgery that was meant to bring life could more quickly bring about death. On the other hand, sitting by idly when a solution could be just on the other side of this risky ridge.
If you pray, please ask God to take His mantle back. To give some sort of insight as to what will be best for this child before us and the thousands like him waiting in line.
Follow 4-year-old Ramyar on Twitter: @ramyarjafar. Subscribe to Ramyar’s updates via RSS here. Follow Ramyar’s thread of longer stories (with pictures) 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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