Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Gaza, West Bank babies have life-saving heart surgery in East Jerusalem

2010-09-03T14:55:25Z

On August 28, a five-member team of doctors and nurses from University Hospital in Padova, Italy arrived in East Jerusalem for a week of life-saving open-heart surgery on sick babies from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund has been sponsoring pediatric cardiac surgery missions to Palestine for over 10 years and have saved the lives of thousands of children from all over the country. This team, led by Prof. Giovanni Stellin, the Director of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery at the hospital, included Dr. Demetrio Pittarello, a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist, Dr. Vladimiro Vido, a pediatric cardiac surgeon, Fabio Zanella, a perfusionist and Elisabetta Cattelan, an OR Scrub Nurse. This was their first trip to Palestine through the PCRF. Already in 2010, nearly 200 children from all over the occupied territories have had life-saving open-heart surgery at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.

PCRF provides humanitarian aid for school kids, hungry children in Gaza

2010-08-31T15:49:57Z

Throughout the month of August, the PCRF has been distributing school bags for poor children before they start the fall school-year, as well as basic foodstuff for hungry children in the besieged Gaza Strip. Hundreds of children have been provided free school bags by the PCRF this year, and thousands more over the past few years, in an effort to ensure that they can start the school year out with basic supplies. In Gaza, the level of malnutrition is deepening, particularly among at-risk children in the slums and squalid camps. While there is no way to completely eliminate this man-made tragedy without an end to the siege, we hope to ensure that as many children as possible get the basic nutrition through our distributions as possible.

Girl from Toubas arrives in VA for surgery

2010-08-23T19:42:56Z

On August 21, 19-year-old Iman Ghanem from Toubas in the Northern West Bank arrived in Virginia to start treatment for a condition known as hemangioma. She has been accepted as a charity case by the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesvill, and will undergo treatment there by Dr. Saher Sabri, a radiologist who has generously volunteered his time and efforts to help her. The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund has been working on trying to arrange care for her for more than 2 years. She is being cared for by a host family in the DC area and supported by the PCRF DC chapter.

Gaza Strip injury brings boy to Hope Children’s Hospital

2010-08-20T13:29:53Z

Two winters ago, an explosive shell dropped onto the home of 14-year-old Muath Abu Rabee and his family. He suffered a brain injury, sending him into a coma for two months.

That was life then in the Gaza Strip.

Today, Muath sits recovering in a hospital bed at Hope Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn. It took 18 months, but he finally was healed at the hands of Hope’s Dr. Yoon Hahn on Tuesday.

“He’s very happy with all the care he’s gotten,” said Muath’s guardian here, Dr. Khaled Abughazaleh. “He keeps on comparing it to the care he got in Egypt. He’s very, very happy here.”

The unlikely pairing of a Palestinian boy with an Oak Lawn hospital was made by the nonprofit Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, based in Ohio, with which Abughazaleh is affiliated. The group connects injured and suffering children in the Gaza Strip with Western doctors such as Hahn. Doctors travel to the Middle East to help on medical missions or severely injured children are flown to the United States for care.

“Where (Muath’s) from in Gaza it’s a very poor place,” said the fund’s founder, Steve Sosebee, who began the organization 20 years ago as a freelance writer on the Gaza Strip. “There were at that time thousands of injuries as a result of shells and bullets and collapsed buildings for a very small population so the medical system was completely under siege and exhausted resource-wise.”

That was Jan. 4, 2009, when Muath was injured and also lost a leg during an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, Sosebee said.

He was taken to Egypt in a coma. He survived, with a certain amount of brain damage, but needed the help of a surgeon.

The relief group stepped in to bring Muath abroad to correct what doctors called a cranial defect about an inch long on the left front portion of his skull.

Hahn fixed him up by inserting a titanium mesh with a demineralized bone paste to help with the bone healing. He performed the surgery Tuesday.

The teen woke up from the surgery alert and hungry.

Muath still has shrapnel inside his brain that is too dangerous for surgeons to try to remove. He has a weakened right side because of the brain injury and acts a little bit slower than he once was but has made great progress, Hahn said.

Muath already has had two teeth he lost fixed in Chicago, and next he’ll fly to Los Angeles to be fitted for a leg prosthesis.

As he heals, Muath will stay with a host family in Plainfield.

In the hospital, Muath has come to learn how to greet and thank his doctors and nurses in English. Charming is a word that comes to mind, Hahn said.

“He does understand at least some,” Hahn said of his English skills. “I heard him saying ‘Hello, thank you’ this morning. He’s rapidly learning.”

Muath eventually will go home to his family in Gaza. There he’ll also join other children helped by the relief fund.

Its goal is simply to help, Sosebee said. It’s not political, he said, there’s no choosing sides in such a polarized place.

“I think it’s just a good thing to show someone like him that putting politics and foreign policy aside, the average American cares,” Abughazaleh said. “He’s had nothing but a good experience.”

Injured Gaza boy has surgery in Chicago

2010-08-31T15:41:37Z

On August 18, 14-year-old Muath Abu Rabea from Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip had neurosurgery by Dr. Yoon Hahn, Professor and Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Hope Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL. Muath suffered severe head injuries, the loss of a couple of teeth, and the amputation of his right leg from an Israeli bomb that hit his home on January 4, 2009. Other family members were killed in the attack and Muath was in a coma in Egypt for two months. Dr. Hahn repaired his skull defect, while Sahar Alrayyes did a full mouth dental rehabilitation on Muath and orthodontist Hasan Othman made him a removable orthodontic device to replace his missing teeth. He will move next to Los Angeles for a new leg at the Shriners Hospital next month. The Chicago chapter of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund were responsible for all of Muath’s care while he is in the USA being treated, particularly his host family, Khaldoun Rahman and May Barqawi (in photo), who did not leave his side since his surgery. Muath arrived last month with another 13-year-old Gaza boy with head injuries, Abdulrahman Almotawaq , who had surgery in Columbus, GA (see story here). The PCRF is the main relief group sending teams of doctors to the Middle East to provide free care for sick and injured children, as well as bringing Palestinian and Iraqi kids out of the MIddle East for free care that they cannot get locally. Several children from the January, 2009 assault on Gaza have been treated in the USA for free.

Gaza girl burned by Phosphorous bomb reunited with family after months of treatment in the USA

2010-08-11T15:20:40Z

On August 7, 3-year-old Farah Abu Halima returned to the besieged Gaza Strip after several months of plastic and reconstructive surgery in San Diego, CA. She was escorted back to her home in Beit Lahya by PCRF volunteer and Farah’s host family and surrogate mother, Amal Jubran. Farah had several operations in 2010 by Dr. Munish Batra of D.O.C.S. (Doctors Offering Charitable Services) at Palomar Hospital. Farah’s home was hit by an Israeli phosphorous shell during the IDF assault on Gaza on January 3, 2009 (Please see the B’Tselem account of the incident here). Several members of her family were killed, including her mother Ghada, who died in March 2009 in Egypt from injuries she sustained in the bombing. While the girl suffered serious third-degree burns all over her body, she suffered serious psychological injuries as well, not the least of which was the loss of her mother and other relatives. The PCRF is grateful to the many volunteers in our San Diego chapter and community who cared for her during the past several months of her treatment there. We are particularly grateful to Michel and Amal Jubran, who housed her much of the time during her stay there and gave her the security, comfort and love that she needed to heal not only her physical injuries, but also the psychological trauma that this innocent child endured.

Injured Gaza boy has surgery in Georgia

2010-08-06T21:21:19Z

On August 5, 13-year-old Abdulrahman Almotawaq from Jebalia in the northern Gaza Strip had neurosurgery at the Medical Center in Columbus, Georgia by Dr. Said Elshihabi of the Columbus Spinal and Neurological Center. Abdulrahman was injured by an Israeli shell on January 9, 2009 when an IDF shell hit his home where he and his family were seeking refuge. While several members of his family were injured, Abdulrahman endured serious head wounds. He arrived in late July in the USA with another injured boy who is being treated in Chicago, and had surgery to close two large defects in his skull. The hospital and surgeon donated their time and services to help this poor boy get the care that was otherwise not available to him locally. The PCRF is the main relief group bringing injured kids from the Middle East for free care in the USA and other parts of the world. The boy is staying with a host family in Atlanta and being supported by volunteers from the community.

Hand surgeon does a two-week mission in Lebanon & Palestine to treat children

2010-08-06T20:36:13Z

On August 5, Dr. Jose Monsivais from El Paso, Texas completed a 2-week mission providing expert hand surgery for children in Lebanon’s refugee camps and in the southern West Bank town of Hebron. Dr. Monsivais has worked in the past with the PCRF, and volunteered his time at Haifa Hospital in the Bourj El Barajnah refugee camp in Beirut, and moved the following week to Alia Government Hospital in Hebron. Neither the Palestinian population in Lebanon nor those under occupation in the West Bank have access to a hand surgeon specialist, and Dr. Monsivais’s mission enabled dozens of needy patients access to high-quality care that they otherwise would not have locally.

Boy Injured in Gaza attacks comes to Columbus for surgery

2010-08-05T15:37:01Z

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy severely injured during the Israeli Assault on Gaza last January will be treated at Columbus Regional on Thursday.

A local surgeon is doing the surgery while an Atlanta family has opened their home to him to make it happen. NBC 38′s Olivia Laborde spent a few moments with them today August 4th, as they prepare for the young boy’s surgery.

“We went with his brother with the market a rocket basically hit the place where they were, ” said Tawfeq Kaimari. Tawfeq Kaimari came along with Abdulrahman Almotawaq on Wednesday.

Abdulrahman spoke to us through Kaimari since he cannot speak English. Bus he vividly describes January 9, 2009. That’s when he was hit but falling debri after a rocket hit his town during the Israeli Assault on Gaza.

Kaimari says, “His brother was hit was hurt was hurt with his face and his stomach.”

The attack left Abdulrahman with serious injuries to the right side of his brain, leaving the left side of his body paralyzed. His left leg cannot move, and his left hand cannot grip.

Through an American charity called Palestine Children’s Relief Fund Columbus Neurosurgeon Dr. Elshihabi heard about Abdulrahman. He decided to donate a surgery.

Elshihabi says, “We’re going to reconstruct some of the skull so he doesn’t have to worry about playing or having to hurt that area. Our goal is really to cosmetically help him out and prevent further injuries. It’s a combination of cosmetic and psychology.”

Also there to help along is Imad Nassereddin. Abdulrahman is staying with him and his family in Atlanta.

Nasserddin says, “Well initially a friend contacted me. We were looking for a host family in Columbus and to make sure he didn’t miss that chance to get the surgery we agreed to host in him an Atlanta”

Abdulrahman has been with his family since last week. Nassereddin says he fits right in with his own kids. He’s become part of the family.

Nasserddin says, “I’ll do it again in a heartbeat I’m legally his guardian so, you worry about him just like you worry about your own kids. But you know what? It’s normal. We’re willing to go through this again. It’s been great to us.”

Even though Abdulrahman’s surgery tomorrow will only last a couple of hours, the doctors say they want to keep him here in Columbus at least through the weekend to recover. He’ll be back to Columbus in a couple of weeks to take out his stitches.

14-year-old Palestinian boy injured by rocket receives surgery free of charge to repair skull

2010-08-05T15:21:31Z

Where skull is supposed to cover brain, there is only skin.

Abdulrahman Almotawaq, 14, keeps the spot hidden with a baseball cap.
A brace on his left leg helps him walk, though with a significant limp. No matter how hard he tries, the partially paralyzed boy can’t make a fist with his left hand.

All of this is the result of getting hit by an Israeli rocket fragment near his home in the Gaza Strip Jan. 9, 2009.

This morning, Abdulrahman is in Columbus at The Medical Center where he is scheduled to have surgery.

Neurosurgeon Said Elshihabi of the Columbus Neurologic Institute is performing the operation. He is doing so free of charge.

Elshihabi said Abdulrahman has a traumatic skull defect and reconstruction is needed. “We’re going to put in a titanium plate and artificial bone material.”

The doctor said much of the operation is cosmetic, but is needed so Abdulrahman can “play just like a normal kid without fear.”

The surgery won’t affect Abdulrahman’s other physical problems, but Elshihabi said planned physical therapy might help.

Abdulrahman was brought here by the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a non-political, nonprofit organization established in 1991 to address the medical and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian children. The P.C.R.F., endorsed by former President Jimmy Carter, helps locate free medical care for children from the Middle East who are unable to get the necessary and specialized treatment at home. Coming to Atlanta, Abdulrahman was on an airplane with another Middle Eastern child being brought to Chicago for an artificial leg.

Abdulrahman, who has been in this country for a week, is staying with the family of Imad Nasserddin.

Nasserddin came to this country from Jerusalem 35 years ago. He left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and owns Aladdin’s Mediterranean Grill and Deli in Atlanta. He has three children.

“I heard through a friend that the fund was searching for a host family in Columbus but I didn’t know of anybody here so I decided to do it myself and drive him here,” Nasserddin said. “I like the humanitarian idea of giving kids a chance to get care not available to them at home.”

His family has taken their guest to markets and the Georgia Aquarium.

“He loves being around green trees,” Nasserddin said of the boy.

Accompanying Nasserddin and Abdulrahman to Columbus is Tawfeq Kaimari, a professor of organic chemistry at Spelman College in Atlanta where he’s involved in cancer cell research. Kaimari, who came to this country 22 years ago, also owns Jerusalem Bakery in Marietta, Ga., and Alpharetta, Ga. He is serving as translator for Abdulrahman.

“Politics doesn’t play a part in this organization,” Kaimari said. “That’s what I like about it.”

Abdulrahman lives in a Palestinian refugee camp with his parents and a dozen siblings. His parents don’t work.

“I like the freedom here,” the boy said. “Everyone has treated me well.”

The day Abdulrahman was hit by the rocket fragment, he was returning home from the market with his brother who was also injured.

Abdulrahman said he was hit in the head and a “piece of skull was lifted out.” Missing school because of the injury made him sad, he said.

Elshihabi, Abdulrahman’s doctor, is glad to be able to help.

“I’ve been wanting for quite a while to do something either here or over there,” the doctor said. “It’s a great opportunity to make a child’s life better.”

BY LARRY GIERER – lgierer@ledger-enquirer.com