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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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Meet Mohammed Umed (Twitter: @MohammedUmed)
January 6, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Mohammed is going to Turkey for heart surgery for the second time since he was born in May 2009.
His parents took him the first time and the doctors created a hole in his heart to compensate for some of the other problems he was having, in preparation for a full correction once he developed a little more. That time has come and we’ve brought him back to Turkey for what we hope will be a full correction.
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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*In accordance with PLC’s desire to lend a hand-up by avoiding strict hand-outs (when possible), Mohammed’s family has received some financial assistance from his work as a soldier and given $8,000 towards PLC’s highly-discounted surgery prices. |
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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. |
Consult with Samaritan’s Purse Doctor; Suggests Children for Surgery in Istanbul
December 21, 2009 by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Baby Mohammed was diagnosed with Transposition of the Great Arteries (or TGA) moments after being born and was sent to have his aorta pierced by catheterization so that his blood would mix enough to keep him alive long enough to grow a little before a very difficult surgery of switching these arteries to their proper place on his heart. Now, six months later we will be taking him to the Anadolu Medical Center in Istanbul, Turkey to get the surgery that will save his life.
Above you see him with cardiologist Dr. Kirk Milhoan of Samaritan’s Purse on a recent trip to northern Iraq to pre-screen children for surgery as a part of Samaritan’s Purse’s Children’s Heart Project.
Mohammed was very sick a few weeks ago and his oxygen saturation dropped below 65%. When he had the chance to be seen by Dr. Kirk his saturations were over 86%. Dr. Kirk confirmed the diagnosis and recommended him for surgery in January.
Thanks to the amazing year we’ve had and the generosity with which you’ve given, we’ll be able to send Mohammed to Surgery.
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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Mohammed is slated for surgery in January 2010. We will be collecting money for his life-saving surgery throughout the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. What a chance to make a profound difference in the life of a child and his family! | |||
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GENERAL DONATION
Donate the amount of your choice to fund Mohammed and our January group by entering it in the field below. All donations made before January 2010 will go to help the Preemptive Love Coalition send Mohammed (and any others in his group) to life-saving heart surgery.
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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. |
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!
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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. |
Heran Goes Into Surgery Looking Blue
May 28, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Heran on her way into surgery with very low blood-oxygen saturation.
She has emmerged from surgery and is recovering in ICU where her blood-oxygen levels are now at over 90%. That - and all other signs - say that she is doing well!
Photo: Matt Addington
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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. |
Ahmad Out of Surgery! No More Blue Skin! All is Pink & Healthy!
February 17, 2009 by Jeremy · 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.
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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. |
Valentine’s Day Focus: The Great Eight (Ahmad’s Condition)
February 2, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
His great arteries are switched around and in the wrong places. He has two holes in the wall of his ventricle, a hole in the wall of his atrium. Effectively, his heart is a big balloon without properly functioning walls and chambers like yours.
This alone results in exhaustion, frequent fainting, and the blue discoloration in his lips, hands, and feet from a lack of oxygen.
You remember oxygen? That stuff that we pretty much need to live. Ahmad needs it too, but his body cannot process it correctly due to the holes in his little heart.
You can follow Ahmad’s progress on Twitter (twitter.com/ahmadbakhtiyar) or via RSS.
Giant Need
See Ahmad’s campaign page on our website to make a contribution to his surgery.
Small Voice
His brown-booted feet hung limply from the chair. Most children wouldn’t be able to resist swinging their suspended legs back and forth in the quiet room surrounded by the seven dwarfs’ familiar faces, the Kurdish curls presumably spelling the names of Dopey and Sneezy and the rest, scattered among painted forest animals on all four walls of Dr. Aso’s combined office, waiting room and examination room. When the doctor was ready, the practiced hands of his mother removed his jacket from his tiny body, his boots from little clubbed blue feet which matched his hands, tormented eyes watching her above his oxygen deprived lips the shade of blueberries.
The doctor’s eyes widened and his brow furrowed as he looked at the Echo, turned to us and said, “This is a very serious case.” When we asked if he was inoperable the doctor shook his head and simply said again, “It is a very serious case…. I don’t know.” Whether she understood English or not Ahmad’s mother read all our expressions easily. She tipped her head to the heavens, possibly to pray, and more practically to give her eyes the opportunity to swallow the tears threatening to escape.
After the picture we snapped of him standing in front of a Kurdish Snow White & the Seven Dwarves, he hid his little face in his mother’s leg and wiped tears from his eyes…
Liz searched her purse for the third time looking desperately for something to give this poor child. She hoped a matchbox car or at least some stickers had magically appeared since she’d last checked, but her hands came up empty again. Her mind slowly absorbed the fact that even if a toy might have brought a temporary smile to his sad eyes, it would do nothing for his frail body. Instead she prayed for the Turkish doctor who will soon undergo the difficult task of setting to rights all that is wrong in Ahmad’s little Iraqi frame.
We’d like to ask you to be a part of Ahmad’s transformation. Of course, these are hard times. But if you can, please consider sacrificing that Ahmad might live.
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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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