Today started as a day of hope, as doctors at Hadassah Medical Center took Malek to surgery in hopes of extending his life. It was very satisfying for me to be there with his grandmother:

It was especially important to be there when doctors came out to inform the grandma that Malek’s tiny heart was not able to survive the surgery, and to wait by her side until an ambulance returned them both to Gaza.

We believe Malek’s family knows their baby was valued and loved by God and by others, and that everything possible was done for him. And we end the day still with hope in the resurrection. Love never fails.

Baby Malek is stable at this time. and waiting for his first surgery for Thursday with the help of God. The child will need three surgeries, the next will be in a few months and the last when he is three years old.

Malek’s grandmother was happy with the visit today, and so was I. It was wonderful to have gone to the hospital, to pray for that baby, and to talk to Grandma. I thank God for allowing me to be there.

Two hours after he was born Wednesday in the southern Gaza Strip, Malek turned blue. Doctors performed an emergency echocardiogram and saw he is missing his tricuspid valve, has a “delicate” mitral valve, and critical pulmonic stenosis. They gave Malek prostaglandin to keep open the patent ductus arteriosus by which a baby receives oxygen in the womb, until he could reach Israel for emergency surgery.

We received his report on Thursday afternoon, and turned to our partner hospitals to see who could accept Malek most quickly, even though Israel is largely shuttered this week due to the Passover holiday. Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem agreed to admit Malek, and via an ICU ambulance he safely reached Hadassah late this morning.

We ask the Father for healing and blessing for Malek, and peace for his extended family, whom we first met in Gaza when the Shevet Achim community was first beginning 25 years ago.