Dear friends,
Good news!
Over the weekend Mohammed's kidneys have come back to life. Friday he
produced 1-2 ccs of urine, more on Saturday, and today he's up to 1cc
per kg per hour, "a decent amount" according to Dr. Khoury.
His liver and bowels are still not functioning normally, but the kidneys
are considered the key after which the others will follow. There's still
a long road of recovery--at least three weeks in the ICU--before Mohammed
could be strong enough for open-heart surgery to correct the defect which
got him into trouble in the first place.
As we follow the story of this newborn from Gaza, it may give you a window
to what we've been witnessing for years: the often hard-to-believe, long-term
commitment of the medical team in Israel to rescuing these children at
any cost. We're repeatedly challenged by their example.
Meanwhile little Juma, the baby with the metabolic disorder, returned
back to Gaza today from Jerusalem. We're still awaiting test results which
might lead to a diagnosis of the condition which has affected him and
taken three older siblings in the first weeks of life. Juma's condition
was improving until he was fed yesterday, but his body chemistry seems
unable to tolerate food. While the great majority of these children cannot
be treated medically and barring God's intervention will die, in the past
three years we have seen two little ones rescued by timely diagnosis and
medication. We are still responsible for delivering the lifesaving medicines
to these two children each month.
Phil Berg again spent most of the day with Juma and his mother at the
hospital, and then safely shepherding them back to Gaza. The family will
long remember the care he has shown for them during this time of crisis.
Yours thankfully, on behalf of all the Shevet Achim volunteers,
Jonathan Miles
Shevet Achim
