Dear friends,
The week began with the cleft-palate child Dina from Kurdistan in emergency surgery late on Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning, as doctors tried to find and control post-surgical bleeding in her heart. Dina is still very weak, but has come through this her third heart surgery and is now breathing on her own. Please continue to pray for her life.



He really has been through a near-death experience, and the difficulty swallowing is believed to be a consequence of brain damage experienced while he was on ECMO heart-lung support. It is something really incredible and special to look forward to his discharge now. Thanks be to God for this beautiful boy and his mother.
Another of the transposition babies whose entry to Israel was delayed, Mohammed’s roommate Amin, was discharged to Jaffa yesterday! His mum is enjoying being back at our house, also for the first time in about two months. Amin is doing well and will still need a special transesophageal echo (TEE) in the next weeks before he can go back to Kurdistan:
Another Kurdish transposition baby, Zhiir, was discharged from the hospital and had his first postoperative echo this week. The cardiologist is reducing his medications over the next two weeks. Since her son had successful surgery and came to our Jaffa house, Zhiir’s mother is like a new woman–her joy is infectious! Seeing her smile, you can’t help but also smile with her. The transformation in Zhiir’s life (and also his mum’s) is incredible:



Alyn hospital also cared for Asmeen a few months ago, and now in a matter of days God willing she will be traveling back to Kurdistan still on a ventilator. Colin and Nate are working hard to coordinate a really complex situation. Yesterday Asmeen was trasnferred to the ventilator which we purchased for her travel, and it appears that an Israeli medical escort team will accompany her out of Israel to Turkey, and then Colin and Nate will continue on to Iraq with Asmeen. This is to say nothing of the intricacies of requirements by different countries for entry, airline regulations, transportation from the hospital to the airport, and many more aspects of this operation that Nate and Colin have worked out. Praise God for them, as without them I don’t know how this would have worked out. Please continue to pray for Asmeen and her mother as they are in the final stretch of a marathon:
Upon returning to Kurdistan, Colin and Nate will then begin preparing for another trip to Israel with six urgent children. We hope they will arrive in the coming week or two. Please be praying for them, and also keep us in Jaffa and Jerusalem in prayer during this time.
Alena for Shevet Achim