Hamzah is in the process of learning how to eat. He is getting there, but really slow. Hamzah’s mother would like to go home, but she has fun in Sheba Hospital as well. Especially because she became good friends with her roommate. Please keep praying for Hamzah. When he can eat, he can go home. That would be so nice for the whole family.Slow progress
Hamzah is in the process of learning how to eat. He is getting there, but really slow. Hamzah’s mother would like to go home, but she has fun in Sheba Hospital as well. Especially because she became good friends with her roommate. Please keep praying for Hamzah. When he can eat, he can go home. That would be so nice for the whole family.Still not eating
Hamzah is still not eating on his own and needs to get food through a nasal tube. Unfortunately there isn’t much progress. He had an echo today and his doctor told us that his heart looks fine, but unfortunately he can’t go home until he learns how to eat by himself. It’s a long process, but we hope that Hamzah and his mom can go home soon. His mom is going through a hard time right now as nothing much is happening with Hamzah. She wants to go home soon, but there is no sign of discharge yet. Please pray for Hamzah’s situation and especially for his mom who is discouraged.
Beautiful boy!
Little Hamzah was chilling in the arms of his mother when I visited them this morning at Sheba Hospital. It was the first time I saw him outside of the ICU and I was surprised how big he is already and what a beautiful boy he is!
Hamzah can still not eat on his own because there is a problem with his vocal cord and therefore he can’t get discharged home yet. He will see a specialist for this soon and we hope that doctor will find a solution for Hamzah. He also has a little bit of a cough since yesterday and therefore his cardiologist will check if his heart is all right.
Please pray that Hamzah will learn to eat on his own and can go home soon!
Almost done
Hamzah is doing well! He is now in Sheba Hospital’s Intermediate Pediatric ICU and the doctor told me everything looks good for him. He only needs to learn how to eat again and then he will be able to go home. Hamzah’s mother is happy her son is doing so well and that there is hope to go home soon, back to her family with a baby that is doing so much better. God is good. He is working in these children’s lives. Please keep praying for Hamzah.Extubated!
What a beautiful boy! – that’s what I thought when I entered Hamzah’s room today at Sheba Hospital. Last time I saw him was before his surgery, when he still looked very swollen and sick. What a difference in the cute little boy I found today!
He was extubated on the weekend and is doing well since then. He is still not doing perfect and his mother told me that he was throwing-up this morning and is also a bit cold, but we pray that he will get better step by step and overcome all the challenges that are still ahead of him!
Lung fluid
Our little Hamzah just went through some complications yesterday at Sheba Hospital. His doctors extubated him but then found out that his lungs were full with fluids. Because of the volume overload, he couldn’t breathe well and they suspected that it was a bit too much for his heart, so they were going slower on him. He got some medication that causes urination and just a few hours later, his lungs looked much better.
To go easy on him they intubated him again, so he can rest a bit and get some more strength. Maybe he can be extubated tomorrow, but we will see how things turn out.
Please pray for our little boy to get well soon!
Awake!
When I entered Hamzah’s hospital room today, I met his mother who happily showed me that Hamzah is awake. She feels bad for him, because Hamzah seems to be irritated by the intubation tube. He keeps chewing on it and sometimes he gags. Fortunately for him, the doctors are planning to take out the intubation tube today. It is always tricky to extubate a child, because that moment is the test of whether a child is stable enough to breathe on his own or not. Please pray for Hamzah today, that he will be able to breathe on his own successfully.Successful Surgery
Yesterday we received a call from the Pediatric ICU of Sheba Medial Center, that Hamzah’s mother, having just given birth a few weeks ago, had some pain and we should take her to the ER. So this morning we drove to Sheba and it was my task for the day to bring her there and make sure that she was fine.
As soon as we arrived to the hospital, I went into Hamzah’s room to pick her up but then she told me that Hamzah is going into his surgery soon! I was really surprised. We didn’t know that it would take place today and I asked her whether she still wants to go the the ER or if she would rather wait for her son. But she was fine with going to the ER, since it probably wouldn’t take as long as the surgery. So we started our journey from office to office, from building to building, until we finally met the right doctor. She took really good care of Hamzah’s mother and she seems to be fine with how everything turned out.
Finally we were done and could go back to the cardiac ICU to wait for Hamzah who was still in his surgery. And finally also he was done. He was still getting stabilized when I talked to his surgeon who told me they were able to do everything as planned. They could fix his arch, placed a band around his pulmonary artery and fixed muscles of his pulmonary valve that were obstructing. We are so thankful for this good news. Thank you for your prayers for this child.
First Steps
Yesterday newborn Hamza arrived to Sheba Hospital as an emergency transport from Gaza. Hamza is only eight days old today and looked very sick when I visited him. He has coarctation of the aorta together with some other heart defects over which his doctors still need to study. He will get a CT scan soon so his doctors have a full picture of his heart before they make a plan for his surgery.
His doctor told me that his heart is really complicated and he is only staying alive right now via a drug called prostaglandin which keeps the PDA, a connection between his two arteries open. His mother started crying as soon as coworker Luisa and I entered the room and we realized once again how hard it is for these mothers to be with their babies here. She has two older daughters back home in Gaza but this is her first son.
Please pray for Hamza, his family, and all the medical staff taking care of him. God bless this little boy who is struggling since the first moment of life.
Hamzah is a week old child from the Gaza Strip diagnosed with coarctation of the aorta and other heart defects.
Hamzah does not yet have a local leader to advocate for prayer and financial support for his surgery.
As of right now, Hamzah still needs $5000 toward surgery and related expenses.