Dear friends,
Warm greetings on Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night, "the going out
of the Sabbath") from Jerusalem.
We've been asked if, in the midst of all the violence, Palestinian children
are still able to make it into Israel for emergency medical care. Here
are a few of the experiences of the week we've just concluded:
On Monday, eight-day-old Nada and her mother made it out from Khan Yunis
to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem (although other days this
week the roads in the Gaza Strip were indeed closed). Nada's mother had
lost two other newborns in the first week of life to an undiagnosed metabolic
disease, likely caused by the close relation of the parents. Baby Nada
herself arrived in Jerusalem lethargic and unresponsive, with an ammonia
level in her blood four times the normal. But this time Dr. Orly Elpeleg
was able to perform a sophisticated metabolic workup (without charge)
and determine that Nada was lacking a substance called arginine. Within
a day Nada's ammonia had dropped to normal, and she was crying and looking
around. Daily arginine supplements--available in any health food store--will
allow Nada to live and thrive.
Monday night, we were on the phone with the Israeli military authorities
until the late hours attempting to get permits for four-year-old Alaa
(pictured at right with pre-operative cyanosis) and her family to enter
the next day from the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. The army has always
helped with permits for life-threatening cases, but in this case the process
seemed unusually slow. Later we learned that just at this time the Balata
camp was surrounded by Israeli security forces in a major operation. Nevertheless,
Alaa was allowed through and underwent successful open-heart surgery on
Thursday. Tonight she is sitting up, eating, playing with her doll, and
no longer blue.
Last Shabbat we had an urgent call from the father of four-year-old Mahmoud
in Hebron. A few hours after returning from open-heart surgery in Israel,
Mahmoud developed chest pain and was rushed to the Hebron hospital. Doctors
there said they could do nothing for him, and Mahmoud's father called
desperately seeking a way to return to Israel. We had no permit, but at
12:30 a.m. our volunteer David Dachauer drove off to the IDF checkpoint
in the hope that soldiers would let Mahmoud and his father through. They
did, and when David brought them to the Holon hospital doctors found a
potentially life-threatening buildup of water around the heart. Proper
treatment reversed the condition, and a visit on Wednesday found both
Mahmoud and father full of joy!
Also on Wednesday we learned that a baby named Fadi, born on Christmas
day, was at immediate risk to his life. A membrane covered a valve in
his heart, and only a small open ductus was keeping him alive. The supply
of a medicine that kept the ductus open would run out in Gaza the next
day! A permit was ready for Fadi, but one of the two major Muslim holidays
was approaching, and the Gaza bureaucracy was starting to close down.
Only God's grace and at least 30 phone calls found an ambulance to bring
Fadi to Israel with a continuous infusion of the lifegiving medication.
Tonight he too is in the Holon hospital (pictured at right), awaiting
surgery in the new week.
We have much to be thankful for as we look at the touch of God's love
on these precious young lives. Please join us in praying for them and
their families, and for the resources and grace needed to keep this bridge
open between Israel and her neighbors.
Yours sincerely for Jesus' sake,
Jonathan Miles
Coordinator
Light to the Nations
POB 32296
Jerusalem 91000
Israel
