Today we collected Hassan and his grandfather at the Gaza Crossing point and drove them to Hadassah hospital for a followup echo.

Hassan is a cute kid. Everything looked well on his check-up.

His next appointment wil be in six months for a new check-up. Hassan and his grandfather were brought back to the border at the end of their appointment.

What’s amazing about Hadassah–and all the big Israeli hospitals–is the way Jewish and Arab medical staff work hand in hand to care for Jewish and Arab patients side by side, usually with great love:

How can there not be good feeling coming out of this? Hassan’s father and I had no trouble agreeing, as we parted at the Gaza border this afternoon, that God deserved all the thanks and glory:

Happy to report this discharge with success ahead and difficulty behind. May God be with this family.

Today was an exciting day for Hassan and his father. It was a day we all were waiting for with anticipation, the day his healing would allow him to leave the pediatric ICU. It was just three days ago that he came into the pediatric ICU unit after a major heart operation called a Fontan, and today he has healed so much that he was just now moved to the children’s surgical ward.

It was cute as a small entourage of his nurse, his dad, myself, and attendant with a wheelchair went down hallways and and up on an elevator to arrive at his new bed, which is one of many is a large room with curtains separating each bed and giving privacy to each child, and their escort.

Like the staff in the ICU, the nurses here are confident, kind, and accommodating. Hassan is still experiencing pain and cried when his father changed his pajamas, but soon he was distracted by his father’s mobile phone.

And before long he was again sleeping peacefully.

Today, I rose at 5:00 a.m. to be at Hadassah Hospital by 7:00 because Hassan was scheduled to have a major operation, the Fontan, the third of three surgeries this little boy has undergone. I watched his father and him begin today playing and having a lot of fun getting dressed for the operation.  They were laughing, having fun and really enjoying themselves.

After Hassan went officially into the operating room, his father and I spent the next five hours talking, eating, and walking together. I would translate into Arabic things he didn’t understand.

When we weren’t doing that, he was praying and reading the Quran, seeking God’s favor that the operation would be successful and his son would be OK.

At four years of age, Hasan had only one ventricle, and his blood was not circulating correctly to allow it to receive the necessary oxygen. Today’s operation which was expected to take five to six hours, was completed successfully in just four and a half hours, with the surgeon coming out to the waiting area to find us with a big smile on his face.

Today the surgeons inserted a flexible tube that will allow the blood to circulate correctly in the years to come. It will be checked every five years to determine whether or not the correction is holding up.

As the doctor left, I said goodbye in Russian, his native language, and he smiled.

According to coworker Jonathan who gave them an evening visit, Hassan was extubated a few hours after the surgery and is now breathing on his own as well as getting his eyes opened. This is amazing progress and at a swift pace. Thank God.

Today I went to Hadassah Hospital to spend time with Hassan’s father while he waited for Hassan’s catheterization which was scheduled for August 9.

The catheterization began just before noon. Before we knew it, the doctor came out of the cath lab to say to Hassan’s father that everything was going well, that they expected that on the first of the week, on Sunday, that they will do the second operation known as the Fontan surgery.

At about 12:40 pm, we were already in the recovery room in the hospital on floor 2. Hassan’s dad was able to see his son and I stood in the hallway, out of the way. There were seven people, including Hassan’s father, in the room already!

I am praying that things will work out smoothly on his recovery. Right now they’re trying to get a monitor for Hassan because the one they have in the room is not working. When Hassan is completely stable and settled properly, he will then return to his previous room, that is, room 11 on the third floor.

Hassan returned to Hadassah Hospital today after several months away. When he was last here he had a diagnostic catheterization. Since then he has been taking medication in preparation for his surgery. Today, the doctor decided that he was ready, and the hospital will soon decide on a date for Hassan’s surgery.

I loved getting to spend time with this beautiful little boy today. He has an infectious joy for life and for living–he was smiling during most of his echo examination! Whether it was throwing paper down the hallway or going down slides in nearby parks, he did everything with enthusiasm, and it was great to share with him and his kind father. I even went down the slide myself, and it was pretty fun, although it was definitely built for people smaller than me.

We’ll see Hassan and his father back here soon–in the meantime, pray for Hassan’s well-being and healing.

When I entered Hassan’s room in Hadassah Hospital today, he was sitting on the bed of another Shevet child he is sharing a room with. They became close friends within the last few days since both of them had their Cath yesterday. So they were painting and doing other activities together. And because they had to lay and sit still the last two days, they had a lot of energy today.

They didn’t just paint, but ran through their room and when coworker Luisa and I entered, it was like they formed an alliance against us and they were kind of fighting us. But it was still very cute, since they are only two and three years old.

Until the doctors visited Hassan, we didn’t know whether he was getting discharged today or not. But in the afternoon, the doctors prepared all the papers, explained the medicine and let him go. For now, we have to wait for the doctors to have a meeting and discuss his further treatment.

Leaving the hospital was really fun because Hassan became good friends with the mother from the other Shevet child and she guided him out, in one line with the other child.

When coworker Jakob and Craig picked him and the other Shevet child up to bring them to Gaza, they stopped in Jerusalem and walked through the old city for some time. Hassan enjoyed being outside and having space to run around with his new friend.

We pray for wisdom for the doctors to create the best possible treatment plan for our little boy. We thank God for how good the Cath went and for the new friendship Hassan made. This was surely a precious time for him!

After a tense three-hour wait Hassan’s father was so relieved when his firstborn son came out of his diagnostic catheterization at Hadassah Hospital this noontime. Doctors got the data they needed for Hassan’s upcoming surgery, and the delay was caused by his slowness in waking up from anesthesia.

Hassan was grumpy and thirsty in the recovery room (above), but by the time he reached his room in the children’s ward he responded to his father’s urging to give a thumbs-up:

And when a doctor came to check his vital signs, it was surprising to see Hassan laughing rather than crying or pulling away:

All in all, a sweet kid and a very caring father. The acorns falls close to the tree.

Today was the third try for Hassan’s echo at Hadassah Hospital and finally we had success. He was always crying very hard when they did his echo, because he is very afraid of doctors and so they had to get the echo while Hassan was under sedation. When they tired afterwards to check his blood pressure, he was again crying a lot.

The doctors decided that Hassan will soon need his third surgery, the Fontan, which is the last surgery they perform for single ventricle defects. Before his surgery however, they want to do a catheterization to get more information and to widen some arteries so that they will have the best success possible in his quite dangerous surgery.

It was a long day for both Hassan and his patient grandfather, so on the way back to Gaza, Hassan was falling asleep. Lord please give the doctors wisdom regarding to the best treatment for Hassan, and bless his whole family!

I was glad to pick up Hassan, the “little parrot”  (as I call him) and his father and take them from Hadassah Hospital to Gaza. We had two other children from another hospital with us, so the vehicle was full of new hearts kids.

I call Hassan “little parrot” because he was talking all the time in the car, “Papa papa.” I think Hassan knew he was going back home because he did not stop babbling and smiling all the way.

Actually it was my first time to drive from Hadassah in Jerusalem to the Gaza border, and Google maps took us through an amazing new route through the Jerusalem forest. You can see it from space as the green area in the middle of the country:

Hassan’s father and the other two moms and of course me were so amazed by the beautiful gift that God gave us to see his creation.

As soon as we reached the border the return was not very complicated, praise the Lord. Due to the corona virus crisis the border officer have to check everyone’s temperature before they cross. And finally they were all so happy to get through, then the usual “Yalla, bye or ma asalama (go with peace).

Praise God, doctors at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem decided today that Hassan is well enough to safely return to Gaza! He returned early this evening, where he and his father will have to enter quarantine near the border for three weeks before continuing on to their home. More details on his homegoing tomorrow.

we don’t have too much to report other than to say Hassan looks much better than yesterday! His father wants to go back home as soon as possible, understandably.

Tomorrow will be Hassan’s scheduled Echo, we don’t know the exact time. Depending on the results, they will go home or not. Please pray for a positive Echo result so these two can go home to their family.

A loving but stressed young father met me and co-worker Margarita while entering the Hadassah Hospital room assigned to little baby Hassan today. The father of Hassan was happy to see us and showed us his precious little son. The boy was wired to several machines, and his father let us see the compress over the operation scar.

Through translation on the mobile, we had a good conversation. I encouraged him in his role as a father.

Please pray for this little boy to have a good recovery and to grow strong. He has a father that deeply loves him, and wants to teach him to play football when he grows up.

After his successful cath yesterday, Baby Hassan could finally go home to his mommy today and it was our task to bring him there. But before Anna and I noticed that there is no child seat in our vehicle which we call Junior. After a short brainstorming with the other community members we decided to go to Yad Sarah, where you can borrow anything for rehabilitation and social services. Thanks God, that they had exactly the perfect size for Hassan and so we could start off to Hadassah Hospital of Jerusalem.

As we arrived at the children’s department, Dr. Ibrahim (at right in the picture below) ran straight to our arms and welcomed us: >Shevet Achim, right?<

The discharge report was already finished and he said that they will tell us Hassan’s surgery date after a final meeting. This should be expected in April. Dr. Ibrahim is a really cool guy and he is a big supporter of Shevet Achim. He was excited for our coming and expressed his respect to us.

Now we went finally to Hassan’s room and met the first time this little cute baby with his irresistible smiling and his amazing dad. We informed the dad that we came to bring them home. The first words he told us via Google translater were: >Respect and Love, Thank you!< With this answer we began to see how grateful he is for the help of Shevet Achim.

Dr. Ibrahim explained to the father everything in his language, and he advocated that Hassan receive his medicine supply for the first month from the hospital, because it’s not so easy to get in Gaza. What a blessed man! After one hour of waiting and packing we were ready for discharge and so we started towards border. Baby Hassan had already fallen asleep and probably woke up at home in the arms of his mother.

Please pray for this little fighter and his family, that everything will go well and he will become completely health after his surgery in April. And also thanks for Dr. Ibrahim – he is a great guy, a gifted doctor and exactly the right contact person for our work. God bless him!

I visited Hassan in Hadassah hospital today. His catheterization was scheduled for one o’clock, but they found that Hassan had a bit of flu so they did new blood tests to determine if his cath could be done today or not.

While we waited for the results, Hassan’s father , an Arabic speaker, and I, a Spanish speaker,  found that we both could speak in the common language of English.  We talked about my beloved Colombia and its soccer players, I was surprised that he knew some names, but then I discovered the reason: he is a soccer player in Gaza!  I discovered this when we started using the translator with our cell phones. And with the coming and going of many questions and answers, I also found out that Hassan is his first son.

He is a caring father who does not rest from holding his baby, and who does not let him cry, even for a second and fills him with kisses every time he has opportunity. It made me think of the love of the Father, who filled us with kisses when he sent his Son and who never lets go of his hand.

The wait always seems endless.

This evening, every time the hospital room door opened, the hearts sped up with wanting to see Hassan come out of it. Then the highly anticipated moment finally came, and the doctor approached with the good news of a successful procedure which brought a big smile to Hassan’s dad’s face.

For now, Hassan is left with medication for his heart and his case will be studied so that he can have a future surgery to correct things. Keep praying for this beautiful baby!

Today, Almuth and I went to Hadassah hospital to meet the new baby Hassan from Gaza who came by ambulance this morning. When we got there the doctors were performing in his room, and his grandmother was sitting outside clearly shaken up. We went to go introduce ourselves, and despite how exhausted she was, she was so warm and grateful.  We could see the dark circles under her eyes, which were always on the verge of tears; we talked and prayed together as we waited for the team in the room to finish. She told me that her son was Hassan’s father, and that today Hassan is 15 days old. And sure enough upon entering the room you could see that he looked as young as he is. Little Hassan  lay under a heat lamp and was attached to tubes that dripped different medicines into him. Not for the first time, I was bewildered as to how this tiny baby was clinging to life, and Almuth, whose first time at the hospital it was today,  took in the scene before our eyes.

As we spent time with his grandmother, the scripture from Matthew came to mind; “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Our families need the yoke of Jesus, always, but these situations make it especially apparent how acute our need is for him. Please pray for Hassan’s precious grandmother to come to know her savior. And please pray for Hassan, praise God for his life, and wisdom for the doctors as they discuss what they saw in the echo.