Meet Aland

This is Aland.

With all the bad news coming out of Iraq, you’ve got to read this little boy’s story!

So for the next few weeks, we want to retrace our steps with Aland; to share it with you from the beginning, from multiple perspectives, so you can see how people like you changed his story—and how he has changed ours.

Aland was born with a heart defect—his parents found out when he was a little more than a month old. Through the course of eleven years, Aland grew up. But he grew up slowly, unable to run, barely even able to stand, unable to go to school or play.

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His parents constantly took him to see doctors, but they always told them the same thing: Aland needed heart surgery—badly. But these doctors also sent Aland and his family away empty-handed. No one knew where to send him or who could operate on him, so they simply sent him home.

Aland is one example of the thousands of Iraqi children who make up The Backlog—children who need lifesaving heart surgery but can’t get it due to a lack of resources, or Iraq’s lack of properly-trained medical professionals.

Your generosity helps provide heart surgeries to children like Aland as we provide the resources and training Iraqis need to save their own children. This month, we ask you to keep giving—and keep reading.

Donate here to help us save more lives, and come back tomorrow to hear more of Aland’s story!