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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. |
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. |
Deelan Discharged from ICU after Surgery & Nitric Oxide Save His Life
March 10, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Deelan is almost like a different baby than the one we’ve been working with the last few months - and certainly different than the crying, uncomfortable, scared baby we brought over last Tuesday night.
Deelan’s surgery and his post-operative treatment with nitric oxide gas has transformed this once-uncomfortable, scared child into a happy, comfortable, impacted-for-life story of your compassion and kindness!
 Molecule of the Year (1992), Nitric Oxide |
To save lives through the very specific provision of nitric oxide, please contribute your desired amount below. One container of nitric oxide costs us approximately $2,000. |
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. |
Sara Enjoys a Visit from U.S. Supporters Who Funded Her Surgery
March 9, 2010 by Jeremy · 1 Comment
As cute as the babies are, we do enjoy interacting with these older kids. Watching them work through their fear, and seeing them come into their own in a foreign culture, is a real joy. Plus, it seems like the “mark” we’re leaving for life will be more profound for these adolescents.
If you’ll remember, Sara’s family comes from Kirkuk, Iraq. One of her cousins left Iraq over ten years ago and currently lives in Istanbul. So we’ll be discharging Sara into the care of her cousin this week so he can show her the sites and so they can reconnect a bit as a family.
But before she leaves, we were honored to host one of our biggest advocates and long-term supporters, Chelsea Pershall (center), and two friends (Erin [left] and Ashley [right]) for Spring Break in Istanbul. They came specifically to meet Sara, whose surgery they funded through a widespread grassroots effort on the Baylor University campus via FWCM.org.
Sara’s family was so grateful to meet these three girls and beyond the life-saving money they represent, found a lot of comfort from hours of broken English conversations and card games.
Do you know someone who might be interested in joining us for a summer of this kind of work in Turkish hospitals and Iraqi homes? Click here to consider our Summer Internship.
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. |
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