Narjis was born in Baghdad, Iraq in October 2016. When she was about two weeks old, her parents Akar and Nor Maseer noticed she was breathing fast. They took her to the doctor and an echocardiogram showed she had two holes in her heart, an atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect. The doctor gave …
Hasen sits in his grandmother’s arms, bored and making a terrible fuss. “He was born with three holes in his heart.” His grandmother tells us what we’ve already seen on the ultrasound scan. She was tired, weary. The strain of life and her grandson’s heart problems are nearly too much to bear. Hasen was supposed …
Leaning in—this is the common posture we see in every hospital where we work. There are always parents leaning in toward their children, either out of concern or the desire to comfort. But just as often we find ourselves leaning in toward patients, providing the acute care they need. Working beside local teams, we lean …
We’ve Made Amazing Progress, And We’ll Lean In To Do Even More In 2017 Read More »
Jobs disappeared. That’s what drove Yaqin’s family from Mosul. It was 2014 and the early days of ISIS in the city. Life was beginning to get difficult—the rules for living changed, tightened, but it was still manageable, except for the fact that paid work became scarce. Yaqin’s father couldn’t support his family, so they made …
She Escaped ISIS, Now She Survived A Life-Threatening Heart Defect Read More »
Every mom’s heart aches when her child is sick. It’s so hard to see them suffer and not know what’s going on, or how to help. For some moms it’s extra hard. When Yossef came down with the flu at two months old, he was taken to see a doctor. The doctor diagnosed not only …
How You Ended A Mother’s Desperate Search For Surgery Read More »
