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!

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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.

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).

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. Donation:

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.

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.

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.

It’s possible that you had to know Baroof before his life-saving heart surgery for his rare heart condition to appreciate the joy in his step these last few days. When we met him, he was scared and downcast - being old enough to understand what was at stake if he didn’t get the heart surgery he needed.

But now - thanks to you! - Baroof is joyful, full of hope, and full of hugs and kisses to boot!

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.

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.

At first Baroof was a little ambivalent toward the exercises designed to improve his lung capacity and rehabilitate him after his heart surgery. As much as he wants to get back outside and play football (soccer), he has a hard time connecting these “meaningless” exercises with his real end game!

But when Jessica - our Family Services Director - pulled out the camera and made it a game, Baroof was plenty excited to show off.

Baroof is looking really great and his mood is as happy as we’ve ever seen it. His fear of the Turks attending to his needs (”Turks” about whom he has no doubt heard plenty of disparagement in his border town) has turned into affinity; and his uncertainty about these weird Americans always trying to speak his language and take his pictures has turned into was just might be abiding friendship.

Comprehensive, human-scale peacemaking efforts and long-term, whole person family services - two of our core values at the Preemptive Love Coalition in action here in Istanbul, Turkey and in Iraq this week.

We are on the brink of sending six kids back to Iraq with healthy, happy hearts this week. And it’s all because of you. Still, we know you do not only want us to mark surgeries like notches on a belt. We’ve heard your desire that we invest ourselves - and your money - in long-term followthrough. To keep us engaged in long-term followthrough for these kids and others once they arrive back in Iraq, all you have to do is: - Enter a dollar amount of your choice below - Press “Donate the Amount of Your Choice” - Spend 2 minutes entering your credit card information Alternatively, you can make a check payable to “Preemptive Love Coalition” and send to: Preemptive Love Coalition 373 Freear Dr. Buellton, CA 93427 You can also speak with a real person and make a gift over the phone by calling 805-245-4666 during normal business hours. We’ll get the next child on their way in a few weeks!

With thanks and joy!

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.

It’s amazing what a few days of nitric oxide - named the Molecule of the Year in 1992 - can do to change the life of a child. Truly GOD has an amazing world! For just $2,000 this gas treatment has taken the rising pulmonary (lung) pressure in Deelan’s body and, by expanding the blood vessels inside, has brought it down drastically, saving his life and allow his repaired heart to actually make a difference in his long-term well-being.

Little Deelan’s time in ICU is almost over. We hope to discharge him to his private room here at Anadolu Medical Center later today… and possibly send him home to Iraq later this week.

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.

Sara breezed through ICU in just 24 hours! She’s now back up in her room resting, spending time with her extended family who migrated away from their tumultuous city of Kirkuk years ago currently live in Istanbul.

She wasn’t really feeling like any more photos… I imagine I would not have been either! So we left her alone and let her rest after snapping this shot!

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.

Sara’s surgery was a complete success! And for a child living with a congenital heart disease for 14 years, that is no small celebration! Not every condition or child is the same, but generally speaking, congenital heart defects are best addressed at a young age. Years of damage and overcompensation often render a child inoperable or create attendant problems such as pulmonary hypertension.

It’s a joy to see Sara come through surgery with the exact corrective procedure that the doctors had planned on performing prior to surgery.

Yesterday it was virtually out of the question for Sara to marry and have children - her heart condition simply wouldn’t allow that sort of additional stress to her body.

Today, doctors estimate that they have extended her life by up to twenty years before she’s likely to need any additional procedures. At that point, the field of cardiac surgery will be more advanced, and it’s hard to even speculate what options may be available to her at that time. In any case, her heart is healed and her body is healing.

And if she wants to, she can even dream about having kids someday! It’s amazing what you’ve done!

To make a small donation to the next child in Iraq waiting for a surgery similar to Sara’s, please enter the amount of your choice below and press “Donate.”

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.