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!
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!
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.
Photos by Jon Vidar (top) and Heber Vega (bottom).
