Neither my co-worker Elisa nor I have been into Anas’ room yet. We’ve only seen him from about a 5 metre
distance. Two days ago, I could see his little purple hands and feet, but today they were covered. Around his bedside, many machines are working away, with bags of dialysis fluid sitting on the floor.

Our precious Anas remains in critical condition at Sheba Medical Center. His recovery has proved to be a waiting game. Besides small improvements here and there, there has been little progress. All we can do is continue to trust the Lord with his life. Even with kidneys and liver in failure, along with a lack of circulation which has made his hands and feet a deep blue color— we know that the Lord is working!

At around noon today Anas was taken back to surgery to have his chest closed. My co-worker Elisa and I waited with his anxious parents. There was little we could do but sit and pray, or occasionally pace, as his parents did, and trust that the Lord would bring Anas through.

With God’s help, Anas has been holding on to life the past several days, with his anguished parents by his side.

Due to his organ failure they felt he might not survive the catheterization; but without it they felt he would not survive at all.

His doctors today finally took him in for a high-risk interventional catheterization.

After a long and tense wait, the father of Anas emerged to share with the crowd of waiting relatives that Dr. Sharon succeeded in ballooning two narrow pulmonary arteries, and placing a stent in another blocked blood vessel.

If Anas can overcome his organ failure, these steps should help his heart to function better. The next days will be critical.

Anas remains in critical condition. The doctor at Sheba Hospital this morning shared that Anas has a number of failed organs, remains on dialysis, and still has an open chest. Good news is that his heart function is good and he is not on ECMO life support.

While coworker Hannah and I were visiting Anas’s parents, Anas was taken into the OR to get his chest cleaned and checked for infection.

The cleaning went really well! The doctor said there were a number of clots that could have been putting pressure on the heart, so they are hopeful that their removal will improve the heart function even more over the next 24 hours. If the improvement happens, there is a hope they can close his chest!

On Tuesday he will likely have a catheterization to improve an artery that has become quite narrow. Please continue to lift up this young boy to the Lord!

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my hope.” Psalm 130:5

It’s often in the times of waiting that the voice of the Lord can be heard most clearly. In the agonizing moments where we, as humans, can do absolutely nothing but look to Him. Anas’ family is going through a time such as this, as they hold their breath while his life is fought for in every possible way. Today coworker Hannah and I found them once more in the waiting room outside the ICU as they have been for over 24 hours. They have faithfully sat there praying, crying, and hoping with all their might for their beloved Anas. What a beautiful image it is to see this family come together in their suffering and wait together. We pray the Lord speaks to them in this time of anticipation.

While they wait, the Lord is working through the skilled hands of the doctors and nurses at the hospital. They have been working non-stop to assure Anas is stable and they are doing every possible thing to preserve his life. One of the doctors graciously shared with us that Anas is not on ECMO, which is wonderful news! But, he remains in critical condition and likely needs dialysis which is something they are currently working towards. And so, the waiting continues as the Lord works.

All of this waiting might seem discouraging, but there’s a verse on my heart that promises a hope beyond all the hours spent in anticipation. That verse is found in Isaiah 40:31 which says,

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

We pray this over Anas, and over his family. May the Lord fill them with extraordinary peace, and a deep hope from the promises of God. He is able, and we will wait patiently as He works. Anas is safe in the hands of God!

When we arrived at Sheba Hospital this morning, we had just missed Anas before he went into surgery. His mother had just sat down in the family waiting area, tears streaming down her cheeks. We were told that Anas’s surgery would take about five hours.

During that time, Elisa and I did our best to connect with his family. We were so blessed that Anas’s aunt and uncle spent the day with us. When we arrived at the hospital, Anas’s mother was being consoled by her sister, and her sister’s husband who helped keep the situation a little lighter by cracking jokes and getting a giggle out of everyone. It was such a blessing to have them both there. The language barrier between us and Anas’s family is incredibly difficult. On top of that, we are two very young girls from America, which may have made it difficult for Anas’s family to connect with us during such a critical time. His parents needed people there to comfort them, but in my spirit, I wasn’t quite sure that we fit the criteria. We still did our best.

Throughout those first five hours, their family continued to offer us snacks and drinks. Coworker Elisa and I even took Anas’s mother and aunt shopping at Sheba’s mall, hoping to give them a small distraction from everything that was happening. We were all sitting together when the five-hour mark approached.

Suddenly, the minutes began to feel like hours. We had heard nothing from the doctors about how the surgery was going or how Anas was doing. At some point, we heard that they had finished what they needed to do and were going to perform an echocardiogram before possibly closing his chest.

But around the ninth hour of surgery, we received devastating news that Anas was losing a significant amount of blood and was in critical condition. The doctors said they were going to do everything they could to stop the bleeding. At that point, the doctor turned to Elisa and me and said, “The parents have enough on their minds. Don’t bother them.”

We were suddenly put in a difficult position. We could feel the weight of Anas’s parents’ grief. It was so heavy that it felt tangible. We were praying and hoping with everything in us that Anas would make it through the surgery, but we also didn’t want to impose on his parents during such an overwhelming moment. We decided it was best to give his parents some space and return to check on them every so often.

When we came back, even more people had gathered. Extended family had arrived to support Anas’s mother and father. The family of his aunt’s husband had joined them as well, bringing food for everyone, including Elisa and me. We sat and ate for a while, still waiting for any news about Anas.

Today Anas was admitted into Sheba Medical Center for his surgery in two days. We won’t know exactly what they will be doing during the surgery until tomorrow.

We spent a while with him but coworker Elisa and I couldn’t seem to break through to him. This boy is adorable, but the whole time we were blowing bubbles to him, he paid no attention. His mother told us that he was particularly very nervous about getting an IV. We kept glancing up at his vitals and noticed that his heart rate rarely reached more than 50 beats per minute. We got an occasional grin out of him, but nothing more. We even got him some chocolate milk to try to cheer him up but we could barely get him to look at us. Elisa and I both understand. This little boy has already had eight catheterizations, and this will be his third or fourth surgery. He is only six years old.

I can imagine that he is used to hospital staff trying to cheer him up before doing something to him, whether it’s a procedure or drawing blood. It seemed like a miracle when Elisa was finally able to get both a smile and a fist bump out of him. Thank you Lord.

Elisa and I still believe there is hope in connecting with little Anas. We will continue to pray that we can be a blessing and a comfort to him and his mother. Please pray that his medical team will be filled with wisdom as they prepare for his surgery this Wednesday. Please pray that Anas will remain healthy until then, and please pray for his mother who I’m sure is riddled with worry for her sweet son.

Today, we arrived at Sheba Hospital and discovered that Anas had already been discharged! Praise the Lord!

That meant he was doing well enough for the doctors to send him home. We met Anas and his mother downstairs, where he was already dressed in his swag street clothes. I thought he looked pretty cool.

Coworker Elisa and I tried our best to play with him, but this kid is very shy. He is very well-behaved, nonetheless.

Today, he showed us his sweet smile quite a bit, and we were grateful to get that much out of him. Hopefully next time we’ll break through that shyness and become good buds.

Anas is now back home in Qalqilya. He will need to return to Sheba in two weeks for his fourth heart surgery.

We are so grateful that he is home with his family after such a short hospital stay, and we hope he remains happy and healthy until we see him again. Thank You Lord.

Upon walking into the secondary ICU of Sheba Medical Center, coworker Hannah and I found six year old Anas from Qalqilya with his eyes peacefully shut and his little mouth sleepily hanging open. With his mother by his side, he slept with child-like trust regardless of the events yet to take place in the coming hours. This was the first time we had the pleasure of meeting Anas and his mother.

While he slept, she greeted us warmly with a gentle smile that conveyed love for her son and also an air of concern. Through a translation app, we spoke with her and found out that Anas has had nine catheterizations, and three surgeries so far. The purpose of his time in the hospital today was to receive a diagnostic and interventional catheterization in order to see what further treatment he needs, and correct any minor issues. As we spoke with his mother, Anas slowly woke up.

He didn’t seem super thrilled at finding two strangers babbling in very bad Arabic at the end of his bed. Thus, when we tried to give him first bumps, high-five him, and get him to smile— all we received in return was a bit of an eyeroll which seemed to say he wasn’t enthused.

The only one who seemed to get a smile out of him was his mother who lovingly made sure he was comfortable and as happy as his situation would allow. Soon after, two kind nurses came into his room and wheeled him into the waiting room just outside the cath lab.

After waiting for a few more minutes with Anas and his mother, and a couple more futile attempts at getting him to be playful, the nurses had his mother walk with him back to the room his catheterization was to take place in.

Hannah and I left and waited for his mother out in the hallway. She was very strong, although it was clear that she was nervous for her little boy. Once we made sure she was ok, we gave her some space to call her family.

After an hour or so, we returned to her and were also joyfully joined by Jonathan and Michelle. Soon after that our little party grew even more when her husband and their Arab friends who live in Israel also joined us.

It was a blessing and a delight to speak with Anas’ parents, and their dear friends as well. The distraction that their friends brought was much needed relief. The time passed by quickly as our group discussed a variety of topics. After about three hours in the operating room, Anas was finally rolled out on his bed and his parents rushed to be by his side.

The doctors kindly requested that our group wait to see Anas until the doctors had made sure he was stable and had discussed a treatment plan for him. Our group of seven peered through glass doors eagerly— it must have been a funny sight to see from the other side of the door.

Finally, Dr. Sharon, a very skilled physician who performed the catheterization, came out and spoke to our group. She explained that the catheterization went well. They dilated an artery that had been far too small, and also took images of issues that need to be fixed. In the coming weeks, Anas will need a major open heart surgery to correct these issues. Until then, he has time to recover from this catheterization.

As Anas woke up, our Shevet community once more experienced the loveliness of Arabic hospitality. The friends of Anas’ family had brought a huge meal to share in celebration of a smooth catheterization, and insisted that we joined them.

The meal was absolutely delicious as they served a classic Arabic dish called Maqluba. Seeing this kindness, the Lord laid on my heart a feeling of wonder. This Muslim family, and their friends, going through such a trial, still faithfully chose to serve others regardless of their circumstances. What a good lesson for us who are followers of Messiah. There are such simple ways to bless other people and show them the love of our Lord. May we seek to serve those around us, regardless of the circumstances, so that we may “spurn one another onto love and good deeds” as Hebrews 10:24 says.

The interactions of today were delightful and the Lord held many lessons for our community as we got to know the family and friends of Anas. We pray rich blessings upon all the precious people we met today. And, in the coming weeks, please join us in prayer for Anas as he prepares for his surgery. We commit Him into the hands of the Lord!