Of Heart Surgery and Humanity

Each year, more than one million children worldwide are born with some type of heart defect. Many of them die before their first birthday, and thousands more die before reaching adulthood. Since 1994, the organization Shevet Achim ("Brothers Dwelling in Unity") has enabled children from Gaza, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Syria to receive life-saving heart surgery in the hospitals of Israel. In the "land of their enemy", these dying children are given a second chance at life.

Shevet Achim is entirely not-for-profit, supported solely by donations and by volunteers who give their time (including the medical staff who provide care at a fraction of the normal cost) to save these children's lives.

During my time in Israel working with Shevet Achim, I held babies from Gaza, made cookies with mothers from Kurdistan, shared living space and meals, prayed together as Muslim, Jew, and Christian, laughed and rejoiced together, cried and mourned together, and grew to love my fellow staff members and the families who we have served.

Saving lives and creating peace and reconciliation in the Middle East, one healed heart at a time.

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Little "Khaled"* is a precious one-year-old boy with huge dark eyes and an adorable grin.

Beneath the adorable, huggable, and lovable exterior of his body, lies a tiny broken heart in need of urgent repair. Today, Khaled’s broken heart was repaired by the skilled members of the cardiac surgery team.

I and "Ryan"*, another Shevet volunteer, spent the day with Khaled’s mother, keeping her company throughout the nearly ten-hour wait during her son’s complicated operation.

When we met them in Khaled’s hospital room, his mother looked exhausted and nervous. Neither she nor her son slept well; she because she knows the seriousness of today, and he because he is fasting before his surgery and was very hungry!

Khaled’s mother kissed her son gently, and then handed him over to the operating room nurses. When the doors had closed behind the medical team, we took her upstairs to wait.

She told us about how hard she had searched for help in Kurdistan, going from one city and hospital to another, but finding nothing. While this mother is far from home, and has had very difficult days of waiting here in Israel, she knows it was worth the sacrifice to save her son.

Since we had a very long wait ahead of us, Ryan suggested that we take Khaled’s mother to the beach, fifteen minutes away from the hospital. We all responded enthusiastically, so it was off to the sea shore for some fun in the sun, sand, and waves. Our Kurdish families have never seen the ocean before, so the Mediterranean Sea is an entirely new experience for them. Khaled’s mother loved it; sitting on a rock and dipping her feet into the cool blue water, tracing designs in the sand, and collecting pretty shells and rocks.

When we returned to the hospital, she fell asleep in her chair in the waiting room, exhausted by the weeks she has spent in the hospital with her son and the emotions of it all.

The hours continued to pass, slowly but surely.

When Ryan and I came back from getting a snack for Khaled’s mother and both of us, as we got off the elevator on the surgical floor, we ran straight into the lead surgeon coming down the hallway. Perfect timing!

He followed us back to the waiting area, and told us that the surgery was complete and they would be bringing Khaled into the ICU soon. The surgery had gone well, and Khaled’s heart had been fully repaired.

Left untreated, his heart defect would have caused him to die a slow and painful death by age three or four. Thanks to these skilled surgeons, his heart is healed and he will live a long and healthy life!

We hugged and rejoiced together. Khaled's mother beamed, and wiped away tears of relief and joy, as she hugged the surgeon. He smiled as he returned the hug and accepted her thanks.

Eventually, Khaled’s mother was allowed to see her son in the ICU. He lies under blue hospital blankets, under heavy sedation, intubated (breathing tube in his throat) and hooked up to many machines. The cardiac ICU is a frightening place with all of its equipment and noises.

Khaled’s mother listened carefully as Ryan and I explained what all of the different machines were for, reassuring her that Khaled was okay, the surgery had gone very well, and things were good now! His skin, previously tinged a dusky shade of blue-gray from a dangerous lack of oxygen caused by his heart defect, is now a beautiful healthy pink.

He will remain sedated and intubated for the next day or two, to allow his body to rest and adjust to the change in his healthy new heart.

We showed Khaled’s mother to the parents’ sleeping quarters in the hospital, where she will sleep while he is in ICU. Once he is moved out of ICU and into a regular room again, she will be able to sleep at his bedside like she had been doing.

As we walked to that wing, an air raid siren sounded for two minutes, marking a moment of silence all across Israel to remember the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Ryan and I briefly explained this to Khaled’s mother, and Ryan told her that today was an important day for Khaled and for all of Israel. Today, on a day when the people of Israel remember death and grief, they gave life and hope to Khaled.

What a beautiful reminder of the message of Shevet Achim!

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