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Background information and high-resolution images are available for use by the media. Please click on the following links:New York City, NY (Jan. 11, 2005) — Fourteen-year-old Ali Abid Ali, from Iraq, finally made it to the U.S. this week for open-heart surgery to repair a congenital defect.
His operation, delayed for a month because of difficulties obtaining a visa, took place Wednesday, Jan. 11, at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore. He was the fifth child from Iraq to undergo lifesaving surgery. The other four children, now living with host families or in the care of charitable organizations, were discharged on December 27 and are doing extremely well. They are expected to return home next week.
Ali, who was diagnosed with a heart defect when he was six months old, suffered from a hole between the upper chambers of his heart. As a consequence, Ali's heart and blood vessels were enlarged, and exertion of any kind was difficult. Without surgery, Ali was not expected to live into adulthood.
Samuel Weinstein, MD, head of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, used a two-inch piece of Ali's pericardium, the sac that surrounds the heart, to patch the hole. Moments after surgery, the heart was already starting to shrink back to normal size.
Hussein Hussein, Ali's father, thanked Dr. Weinstein profusely after the operation, in both English and Arabic. "I'm his father," he told Dr. Weinstein, "but I couldn't give him what you gave him."
Ali will remain in the hospital for about four or five days and then stay for a few weeks with a host family in Pelham, N.Y.
Ali and his father came to The Children's Hospital at Montefiore through the combined efforts of: Sergeant Marikay Satryano, a Bronx school teacher from Tarrytown now on active duty in the US Army Reserves in Amman, Jordan, and assigned to the Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Center in Amman; the Gift of Life International, a humanitarian arm of Rotary International, which arranges treatment for children needing heart care around the world; and the Rachel B. Cooper Foundation, which provides funds for research at Montefiore for children with congenital heart disease. Physicians and other medical personnel volunteered their services in Jordan, and with the support of Montefiore, Dr. Weinstein, a world-renowned pediatric heart surgeon, agreed to donate his services. The Gift of Life and Rachel B. Cooper Foundation are helping with the cost of the hospitalizations.
For previous postings on Operation Iraqi Hearts, please click here.
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