1: What are you trying to accomplish?
2: What's your evidence that you can accomplish it?
3: How is it possible that you can provide an open heart surgery in Iraq for less than $1,000? Is that the full cost?
4: So is that the same thing as saying that my donation doesn't really make a difference? That the "up to 85%" funded locally by those inside Iraq is all that is really necessary to make this work?
5: Any other costs?
6: What is the bottleneck to more surgeries: money or skilled labor?
7: I'm skeptical of non-profits and charities because they always seem to be asking for more money. How can I be sure that Preemptive Love Coalition has "room for more funding" and that I'm not paying into a huge savings account, "Rainy Day Fund", or something similar?
8: Do you have enough volunteer surgeons available for unfunded Remedy Missions? (i.e., are there trips that you could fund if you had more money, or is there a labor bottleneck?)
9: Many heart surgeries require follow-up treatment (including additional surgeries). Do you have a way of providing these to patients?
10: How do you assess whether surgeries are completed competently and appropriately?
11: What is the rate of complications during and following surgery?
12: How do you assess whether surgeons are performing additional surgeries that they would have not had the funding or motivation to perform otherwise?
13: How do you assess whether surgeons are charging their patients for the surgeries you fund?
14: Do you follow up with the surgeons you've trained to assess whether they are correctly applying their training?
15: What information is available on the activities - and competence - of the surgeons you've trained?
16: Where do surgeons work after completing training? Do they serve poor patients?
17: How much do you spend each year on "program" expenses and how much on "overhead?"


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 Q: What are you trying to accomplish?

A: Train Iraqi heart surgeons and nurses so they can eradicate the backlog of tens of thousands of Iraqi children waiting in line for lifesaving heart surgery. [Back to Top]

 Q: What's your evidence that you can accomplish it?

A: Each year we continue to increase Iraq's total number of pediatric cardiac surgeries with new surgeries in Iraqi centers that would not - indeed could not - have been accomplished otherwise. Ministry of Health (MOH) officials speculate 500 surgeries were accomplished in 2009 (of which we provided 23 - 4.6% - outside the country). The addition of our 82 surgeries in FY 2010 - to the 500 baseline - for a total of 582 approximated surgeries, represents an increase created by PLC of 14% over 2009. In FY 2011 we anticipate increasing Iraq's total number of pediatric cardiac surgeries to at least 719 (or another 19% over FY 2010 directly attributable to our surgeons and our training).

Each year the local teams with which we work will become more proficient, and each year they will independently take on a larger case load than they could have the year before. None of these figures yet account for that additional output.

In March 2010 the Iraqi Ministry of Health asked us to expand our work to three additional sites. In May 2010 we began additional discussions about establishing a fellowship program in which international surgeons and nurses would take up residence in the Iraqi system to train locally for 40 weeks out of the year.

Our model does not rely strictly on volunteers because the level of need in Iraq outstrips what we could reasonably supply through volunteer labor alone. Accordingly, we set our budgets so as to actually contract the international surgical and nursing staff we need to accomplish our mission.

Sure, this increases the cost-per-mission (and thereby, cost-per-child) over early "mission" models in which volunteerism was idealized and training was not necessarily prioritized. But our contract labor + volunteerism model is inarguably the only way to create a nationwide quarterly training program and fellowships inside Iraq with international experts across approximately 6-8 surgical sites. Moreover, our model does not face the same sluggishness of learning that other surgery organizations suffer because we do not have the same rates of turnover; we have incredible consistency across our programs and missions. [Back to Top]

 Q: How is it possible that you can provide an open heart surgery in Iraq for less than $1,000? Is that the full cost?

A: The "less than $1k" numbers we routinely publish represent the amount in "program costs" we spend from our international donor money. The figure does not necessarily account for every single management, overhead, or fundraising expense.

Our total expenditures for FY 2010 were $188,919. We performed 82 surgeries during the same period for a per child total of $2,304 (though this data is a bit moot moving into 2010-11 as we abandon our very expensive "surgery exports" program(s) in Turkey, etc. and focus henceforth on more cost-effective in-country surgeries alone).

When all of our Remedy Mission partners are taken into consideration - including the Iraqi Government, medical companies that donate medicines and supplies, and local organizations - the real Remedy Mission cost to all donors is in the range of $5,400 - $7,000. Put another way, up to 85% of the total cost of a single surgical/training mission is now subsidized by local, Iraqi constituent institutions. [Back to Top]

 Q: So is that the same thing as saying that my donation doesn't really make a difference? That the "up to 85%" funded locally by those inside Iraq is all that is really necessary to make this work?

A: There is not a single site across Iraq for which our Remedy Missions are fully funded. If we fail to provide our 15-19% of the overall budget, Remedy Missions fail, surgeons and nurses do not get trained regularly, on-site audits from our international team do not happen, up to 20 children are delayed from receiving surgery, and a few may even die or become inoperable. Your role in funding the remaining 15-19% is as critical in the short term as any other entity. A single Remedy Mission is binary - it either happens or it doesn't. Your money makes it happen. But our goal is to continue to graduate all our programs so they are 100% funded locally in the next 5-10 years. [Back to Top]

 Q: Any other costs?

A: Our numbers per Remedy Mission do not account for "indirect costs," such as the cost (or value) of our volunteer medical staff from around the world, costs to local healthcare systems, the cost of a family to travel to the surgery site, the opportunity costs of lost income for families as they wait for surgery, etc. The reason we think it's important to note this here is because lifesaving is actually quite difficult. Building a pediatric cardiac surgery system for the entire country of Iraq is laborious and full of complexities. [Back to Top]

 Q: What is the bottleneck to more surgeries: money or skilled labor?

A: People often assume that the biggest need is more Iraqi heart surgeons. We could use a few more, but the real bottleneck is skilled nurses, technicians, and non-surgical physicians. A surgeon is only as good as his support staff. One of our biggest challenges is training pediatric cardiac intensive care nurses. To date, we haven't found a better model than our Remedy Missions through which we bring quarterly hands-on training to local nurses (and surgeons) in Iraq. Rather than exporting the nurses to Europe or the USA for training (whose medical systems barely resemble the Iraqi system), we train them with what they have on hand in their local environment. [Back to Top]

 Q: I'm skeptical of non-profits and charities because they always seem to be asking for more money. How can I be sure that Preemptive Love Coalition has "room for more funding" and that I'm not paying into a huge savings account, "Rainy Day Fund", or something similar?

A: For the record, we are skeptical of non-profits as well! In 2012 PLC needs $350,000 on hand at any given time to cover our cash flow needs for up to three Remedy Missions per quarter. We are still 30% under-funded against that goal. In addition to cash flow needs, we still require 15-19% funding on most of our missions after local sources contribute their portion; we have un-funded pilot programs in new cities where local doctors have been requesting our help (but where weve yet to woo local philanthropists or health directors); and we have research and social service initiatives through our Followthrough program that require funding at present because we have not yet sought local funding for those initiatives (seeing as how they relate mostly to our Monitoring & Impact Evaluation objectives). Please see our "Funding Gap" page to look deeper into our anticipated program costs, the sources of funding we are counting on, and the funding gap between the two for the next few years. [Back to Top]

 Q: Do you have enough volunteer surgeons available for unfunded Remedy Missions? (i.e., are there trips that you could fund if you had more money, or is there a labor bottleneck?)

A: Great question! We use a hybrid volunteer/staff model. Roughly 25-30% of any one of our Remedy Mission teams is employed by the International Children's Heart Foundation (typically the surgeon, scrub nurse, anesthesiologist, ICU doctor, and often a part-time ICU nurse). The remainder of the team typically comprises volunteer physicians, technicians, and nurses from across the world. Because the hardest-to-come-by positions are contract labor for us and NOT volunteers, we have never failed to run a mission for lack of personnel. We have only cancelled or turned down a request for a future mission due to lack of funding. [Back to Top]

 Q: Many heart surgeries require follow-up treatment (including additional surgeries). Do you have a way of providing these to patients?

A: Yes, we do. Our model dictates quarterly visits to each program site (a hospital inside a regional hub). Our reliance on local cardiologists ensures that the local team prioritizes and almost entirely sets the agenda for patient selection (within a development curricula) - after all, Iraqi doctors are the ones who are most intimately connected to the patients and their daily progress! When a local cardiologist sees a child who has either (1) deteriorated and requires another intervention or (2) advanced as expected to the next step of a complex, staged intervention, the child is prioritized for follow-up treatment. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeries are completed competently and appropriately?

A: Because we are a broker and play a combination administrative and financier role in the coalition of partners working in Iraq to develop pediatric cardiac care, we are able to stand in-between the local surgical team and the international surgical team (whom we contract as a third-party to train and perform surgeries in Iraq). If the local team or health directorate suspects a lack of competence in the international team, a cavalier attitude, or a single poor judgement call, our role is to be the go-between - to be the advocate for the local healthcare providers vis-a-vis the international surgical team.

Similarly, if the international surgical team feels pushed by the local surgical team to perform procedures with which they are uncomfortable or for which they think the local system is ill-prepared, they are able to refuse children for surgery and/or use us (PLC) as a go-between.

The checks-and-balance between the two teams helps us ensure surgeries are performed in a competent, appropriate manner. [Back to Top]

 Q: What is the rate of complications during and following surgery?

A: We report our in-hospital and 60-day mortality after each Remedy Mission. You can finds those numbers here. We also produce reports after each Remedy Mission detailing the trip, including data on intraoperative complications, post-operative complications, and mortality. You can find those reports here. We are also deliberately raising the funds necessary to help us bring our various heart hospitals into compliance with the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for Congenital Heart Surgery in Developing Countries. If this kind of quality improvement and reporting initiative interests you, we are currently looking for financial partners for our Followthrough program. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeons are performing additional surgeries that they would have not had the funding or motivation to perform otherwise?

A: Pediatric heart surgery in Iraq is almost nonexistent without our work. There are two active programs for relatively simple surgeries (one in Erbil and one in Baghdad). Local surgeons claim that combined they perform no more than a few hundred pediatric surgeries a year. In every location where we work, pediatric heart surgery is effectively nonexistent. Therefore, every surgery performed at our program sites (both when we are present and when we are not) are "additional surgeries" that they would not have had the SKILL to perform without the FUNDING we employed to train them in their local environment. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeons are charging their patients for the surgeries you fund?

A: Because we work in public (government) hospitals - and because healthcare in Iraq is provided almost entirely free of charge - it is widely known that any cardiologist, surgeon, or administrator seeking compensation for services is acting outside of Iraqi law. [Back to Top]

 Q: Do you follow up with the surgeons you've trained to assess whether they are correctly applying their training?

A: We see them quarterly in their local environment and perform real-time audits of their skills, recollection of past training, application of new techniques, etc. Additionally, our international surgeon remains on call at any time via phone, Skype, or email for consultation. [Back to Top]

 Q: What information is available on the activities - and competence - of the surgeons you've trained?

A: Because our Remedy Mission training program only began in late 2010 - and pediatric heart surgery at our sites across Iraq is the same age - there is still relatively little independent practice to report, and therefore little data on the activities and competence of our surgeons and their teams. But as they begin performing more surgeries independently, we are trying to align each site/surgical team with the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for Congenital Heart Surgery in Developing Countries (a data collection and tracking initiative of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard University). [Back to Top]

 Q: Where do surgeons work after completing training? Do they serve poor patients?

A: As of Q2 2011 there was only one private hospital in Iraq (to our knowledge) providing pediatric heart surgery (and those surgeries were on the lower end of the complexity scale). Our work does not necessarily mean to exclude private hospitals as they continue to come online and become viable options, but at present the government system has a better equipped foundation for training local surgical teams. As we look to fully graduate our local surgical teams in the next 5-10 years, we imagine that most of them will stay in the public sector for all of the stability, pensions, and benefits of loyalty provided to those who stick with it. But, undoubtedly, some will seek positions at private hospitals (assuming private hospitals are willing to invest in the requisite capital purchases necessary to establish a credible program). In the public sector, rich and poor are served alike. In the private sector, poorer patients would be at an obvious disadvantage. [Back to Top]

 Q: How much do you spend each year on "program" expenses and how much on "overhead?"

A: As a rule, we do not adhere to the model that claims that "overhead" is somehow bad and "program" is somehow good. There are very bad program expenses. There are overhead expenses that are excellent investments. We agree with Paul Brest, President of the Hewlett Foundation, when he said, "Achieving a low overhead ratio drives many charities to behaviors that make them less effective and means more, not less, wasted dollars." Therefore, we spend as much on overhead as we need to accomplish our mission. The mission itself is our North Star - not arbitrary (even harmful) standards about overhead-vs-program expenditures. For the record, however, you can find a current pie chart of our expenditures here (and if you're into that sort of thing, you'll probably be impressed!). [Back to Top]

Jeremy Courtney Founder, Executive Director Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney

“I'd love to hear any critique or questions you might have!”

DROP A NOTE OR DONATION BY MAIL: Preemptive Love Coalition 1300 Darbyton Dr. Hewitt, TX 76643 GIVE BY PHONE: To make a gift over the phone, using your credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover), please call +1 (806) 853-9131 during normal business hours. IRAQ OFFICE: +964 770-355-6298 (local)

Meet Ali. He Finally Got His Lifesaving Surgery on Our Second Trip to Southern Iraq

February 17, 2011 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

Ali gets his surgery as the first child during our February 2011 Remedy Mission to southern Iraq.

An interview with Cody Fisher about his first encounter with Ali and the journey to where he is today.

Push play above to meet little Ali….

With you,

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

Our Partners

Overwhelmed by 350 kids on Local Waiting List as Remedy Rolls into Southern Iraq to Train Locals

February 16, 2011 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

It’s been a long journey from our home in northern to southern Iraq but we just can’t stay away – the doctors, nurses, and people here want their own fully functioning heart surgery center so badly!

Today marks the end of Remedy Mission Day #1 with the International Children’s Heart Foundation and Living Light International.

Push play above for a quick overview of day one and a setup of what’s to come this week from southern Iraq….

With you,

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

Our Partners

Old Friends With New Hearts

December 15, 2010 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

Remember Ahmed, Noor, Hussein, and Riza from our first Remedy?

They remember you!

They were the group of four who traveled 1,000 kilometers north to receive their life-saving surgeries last August. Today, they only had to go down the road to show us how well they were all doing!

I didn’t even recognize any of them! Can you? Together, all four have gained a total of 33 pounds since their operation! All their parents said the same thing, “They won’t stop moving or eating!”

All signs that their body is getting stronger each day with their whole hearts.

Ahmed’s parents are doing great after their car accident. His father is back at work and his mom has the new full-time job of keeping up with Ahmed!

Riza’s mother said, “She’s a completely new child since the surgery. Before, she couldn’t stand or crawl but now she’s running everywhere!”

Hussein’s mother said, “He has a fresh face now! Before, he was tired and his heart would beat fast. Now he’s full of energy and his heart doesn’t hold him back.”

They thanked GOD for you today and they remembered how you made Remedy possible. They told me, “We’ll never forget what you did for us!”

Hassan’s Surgery Was A Success!

December 13, 2010 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

Hassan’s surgery was a success!

When the doctors first looked at Hassan’s heart, he had multiple defects. When they were done with the operation, they had corrected each one of those defects and could only describe his heart as whole and complete!

Now Hassan is resting in the ICU, next to Ahmed, where the nurses continue to monitor how the rest of his body responds to his new and fully functioning heart.

Hassan’s wait for his surgery is finally over. Now all we’re waiting for is his return to his family.

 

Stay tuned…

Remedy Begins in Nasiriyah with Ritha’s Surgery

December 7, 2010 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

When we arrived at the hospital this morning, it seemed like the staff had been working through the night to receive Dr. Novick and his team. Ritha, the first child on dock for surgery, was already prepped and waiting in the operating room while the nurses and doctors were all in scrubs waiting for orders.

I rushed into the Operating Room to see little Ritha before he was operated on but the room was the size of a large closet and it could barely hold the small army already in the room.

Their goal for 7 year-old Ritha was nothing short of a complete correction.

At four this afternoon I went into the ICU to see Ritha, who had already been walking around after his operation. The surgery went excellently and he was given the complete correction they had hoped for! Ritha was the perfect child to start off the second Remedy. His strength filled the hospital with hope as they brought in Haydar to be operated on next.

Stay tuned…

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. This Remedy Mission is made possible by the Vice President of Iraq, Living Light International, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

Heartmender Tour Takes on L.A.

September 22, 2010 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

Photo Mike Smith // All Rights Reserved

After four days in San Francisco, kicking off our Heartmender Tour (and only receiving one parking ticket!) we’ve made the trek down south to Los Angeles. Sunday marked our first full day in the “City of Angels” but only after a long day spent in deep discussions in restaurants, on high school campuses, and in local churches, where we continued our Heartmender Tour about postures of peace and cooperation between peoples at odds Iraq and around the world.

We’ve run into social workers, actors, doctors, engineers, business men, hipsters, friends we haven’t seen since 3rd grade, former travel companions, and people from just about any background you can think of.

What I love most about the Heartmender Tour is the fact that just a couple weeks ago, few knew the story of Ahmed or Mohammed. Now, people all over the West Coast have been able to hear their story, see them on film, and in some way become a part of their story.

Their stories are speaking up on behalf of thousands of other kids just like them in Iraq, waiting for surgery. Their stories are mobilizing entire communities here on the West Coast to take up action by becoming monthly sponsors. Their stories are mending hearts.

To join their story and become a part of ours here in Los Angeles, be sure to reach out to us while we’re in town! We leave Friday and we would love to see you!

Write us at info@preemptivelove.org or find us on Facebook (http://facebook.com/preemptivelove) or Twitter (http://twitter.com)!

To make a donation or become a monthly heartmender, click here.

With You,

Abdulkareem Gets His Surgery After Months of Appeals from His Loving Father

August 26, 2010 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

Photos by Heber Vega; Lydia Bullock

It was around lunch time in the heat of June in Iraq when Abdulkareem’s father came into my office. He told me that his son was very sick, that he was very poor, and that he needed our help and was willing to do whatever he could to make it happen. We were preparing our July group for surgery in Turkey and one of the children had just withdrawn from the group. It looked like we might be able to squeeze Abdulkareem in at the last minute if all the right pieces fell into place quickly.

Abdulkareem’s father worked especially hard for his little boy. He traveled from his home in Diyala to Baghdad to get passports fro the family. He came to the office and called regularly to see what our status was with regards to funding for his son’s place on the Turkey surgery list.

There are two days in the duration of my journey with this family that I am unlikely to forget. The first was the day that Abdulkareem’s father – Hafez Bey – looked into my eyes and, with all the passion of a protective but powerless father, said, “Just help my little boy; just do something to save my little boy.“

Unfortunately, it did not work out to take Abdulkareem to Turkey with us for various reasons and we began the race against the clock to provide Abdulkareem surgery before his condition deteriorated any further. Our as-of-yet untested next option was our first Remedy Mission in August 2010. We gave Abdulkareem a priority spot on the Remedy Mission list.

The day our surgical team arrived Hafez Bey must have seen us on the news because he called me 10 times: “Is my boy going to surgery? Mr Jeremy, just do something to help my little boy!”

Photo by Heber Vega

There is one other day in the life of this family that I won’t forget – the day Abdulkareem had surgery earlier this week. I remember it so distinctly because after the surgery Hafez Bey grabbed me and kissed me and gave me an emotional “thank you” for making good on our commitment to his family.

One of the things we always try to explain to families is the presence of hundreds of people in the States and Europe – people like you – who work together to make every surgery possible. Of course, parents appreciate the ability to personalize their gratitude, but we talk about you frequently because we could not have saved Abdulkareem’s life without your many gifts to our Remedy Mission.

If you like what you’ve been able to be a part of this week with us (and there seem to be hundreds of you viewing the website and videos each day), please take two minutes to give toward the next Remedy Mission, the next Abdulkareem, and to the next father who is eagerly waiting for someone to help his little child. Please donate any amount of your choice below.

WIth You,

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

Mohammad Fwad’s Surgery Post-Poned until Monday; We Plan Future Remedy Missions to Eradicate the Backlog

August 22, 2010 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

On my taxi ride home tonight I thought through what needed to end up on our blog before we ended our day. Some days that’s an easy question to answer because of what happened, whether it was multiple surgeries to celebrate, or the full recovery of yet another child. Today, both of those things happened and we’re thrilled about it! But what made today hard was when we heard that Mohammed’s surgery was pushed back yet another day.

Mohammed, his family, and all of us expected his surgery to take place last Friday. Unfortunately, we couldn’t know how long each surgery would last and we couldn’t anticipate the local shortage of blood products; the limited supply of certain medical instruments; or an influx of emergency cases that have come seeking Remedy. In any case, Mohammed’s surgery was pushed to Saturday. Then it was pushed to Sunday. It’s 10:30 PM on Sunday night and Mohammed must wait yet another day to be admitted to surgery.

Mohammed is not being overlooked. In fact, it’s because our team from the International Children’s Heart Foundation refuses to overlook any child or settle for anything less than the best that certain children have required more time and attention than originally planned. It’s because of this team that each child has received a near perfect correction and followthrough each day, no matter what the expense and no matter how long it takes.

But that doesn’t make it any easier for Mohammed’s mother and father as they grow weary of waiting. It’s certainly not easy for two year old Mohammed who wasn’t allowed to eat or drink for 12 hours today as his surgery was delayed and then post-poned.

“When will you save my son?” I heard it repeatedly today. It wasn’t out of anger or bitterness, it was simply a mother who cares so deeply and longs for the healing of her son. If I was in her position, I doubt I would respond with such grace; especially if the person across from me couldn’t give an answer.

Mohammed is scheduled to receive surgery tomorrow (Monday), but even when he receives his surgery there are still so many more that are waiting and hoping for another Remedy Mission. Even if we were able to operate on 50 children this week, we would still have to turn people away at the door. If we operated on 1,000 kids, more would still have to wait.

It breaks our hearts a thousand times over, but at the same time it makes our hearts stronger. It strengthens our resolve and lights a fire within us to continue to do what we’re doing. We refuse to be content in a country that has a backlog of thousands of children who are in desperate need of heart surgery. We refuse to sit by and let them die. We can not accept the fact that there isn’t enough training among Iraqi doctors to save these children.

We believe that these Remedy Missions are the missing link we’ve been reaching for these last three years. And we believe we can work together with the people of Iraq and with the rest of the world to train Iraqi surgeons to care for their own so that we do not just address the backlog of Iraqi children waiting for surgery as we know it today, but rather work toward serving every child from this point forward who is born with a heart defect. We can help empower and strengthen local doctors and nurses and this first Remedy Mission makes it clear that YOU can continue to make this a reality.

Kids like Mohammed are the reason why we are already dreaming and beginning to plan future Remedy Missions across Iraq. And they are the reason we are raising money for not just one more Remedy Mission, but for dozens in the coming years.

So we are fighting for Mohammed and his parents today and we will fight for another child and his family the next day and we plan to keep on fighting until every Iraqi family has access to the lifesaving heart surgeries that their children need to live.

Will you donate below to make these parents’ beautiful dreams a reality?

With you,

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

Ahmed’s Surgery a Complete Success; Heart Stronger Than Ever Thanks to You!

August 21, 2010 by Cody · 3 Comments 

Ahmed is prepared for surgery with our visiting cardiologist, Dr. Sri Rao of the International Children’s Heart Foundation. Photo by Heber Vega

Ahmed’s 5 year battle to obtain his much-needed heart surgery is now a thing of the past after a 5.5 hour surgery that successfully corrected all five major heart defects! He’s now resting in ICU with his uncle who hasn’t left his side since his parents were seriously injured in a car crash this past week. If you haven’t read Ahmed’s story be sure to read it here.

We’ve all fallen in love with Ahmed, there’s no denying it. Today our joy is through the roof as we celebrate Ahmed’s life and the good news that both of his parents are recovering with him a few hours away in their home city!

Ahmed’s heart can now give his body everything it needs to run, jump, and shout for joy, thanks to you!

It’s always an exciting journey to the hospital each morning to see our kids. But tomorrow morning the trip is going to be special.

We can’t wait to see our friend, Ahmed.

With you,

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

Ahmed’s 5 Hour Surgery Is In Progress!

August 20, 2010 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

Photo by Jon Vidar

[ CLICK HERE TO READ IN ARABIC ]

Ahmed spent his last two days waiting patiently for his surgery, playing with film-maker Ricky Norris, racing around the hospital floor on top of the hospital rolley-carts, and watching cartoons on Heber Vega‘s laptop.

You may recall that Ahmed’s parents were in a tragic car accident on their way to our Remedy Mission just a few days ago. His uncle actually ensured that Ahmed made it here and did not miss his chance at life. If you haven’t read Ahmed’s story be sure to read it here!

We received the great news from his uncle that Ahmed’s parents are improving but still in the hospital in Nasariya. They called repeatedly today to speak with their son and remind him of how much they love him. We feel the same way!

Photo by Heber Vega

Ahmed is now in the 3rd hour of his surgery and it’s expected to last 2 more hours. It is also after midnight here in Iraq! Who does surgery after midnight? We are so grateful to Dr. William Novick and his team from the International Children’s Heart Foundation. Ahmed’s case is one of the most complicated the doctors have seen this week so they’ve committed their entire night to making the corrections Ahmed’s heart needs to keep up with this little boy who clearly loves to be active!

Are you a friend on Facebook (<-- click) or Twitter (<--click)? That's the most real-time way to keep up with news from Remedy Mission in Iraq.

With you,

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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