New York City, NY (Dec. 27, 2005, 12 noon) — Four Iraqi children who underwent lifesaving cardiac surgery were discharged from The Children's Hospital at Montefiore on December 27 with healthy hearts, as doctors, nurses, and the media turned out for a grand farewell.
"These four beautiful children now have their lives back," said Samuel Weinstein, MD, head of the team that performed the open-heart surgeries, at a packed news conference this morning. He noted that these were just the latest of more than 500 lifesaving heart operations that Montefiore's pediatric cardiac surgeons have performed over the last 15 years for children brought to the hospital by Gift of Life International, a humanitarian arm of Rotary International, and the Rachel Cooper Foundation, which supports research at Montefiore for children with congenital heart disease.
Beaming at the kids, who were sitting with their fathers, Weinstein added, "We wish them a happy and healthy life not only in the new year, but long into the future."
Following the news conference, the children and their fathers left to join their host families and organizations in New Jersey and New York. All four children will return to Montefiore in three weeks for a followup visit prior to leaving for their homes in Iraq.
Because of years without treatment, the children's hearts were severely damaged from congenital conditions that impeded blood circulation.
"None of the children would have lived into adulthood without the surgery," Dr. Weinstein said. "But now, Wsam's already got plans to play soccer…. Ashjan's father has renamed her Farrah, for happiness…. Asaid's father is making arrangements to send his boy to school for the first time in several years…. And Sivar, whose pallor was blue when he arrived because of his deteriorated heart, has the most infectious, toothless kid's smile I've ever seen."
In answer to a reporter's question, 11-year-old Wsam said through a translator, "I used to have pain and heaviness in my chest. Now I am perfectly comfortable." Asaid, like the others, said he was looking forward to going home to play with his friends.
Ashjan, when asked why she was changing her name, which means sadness, to Farrah, was too shy to speak and let her father, Khalid Jarallah, explain: "For years my daughter suffered from health problems. Vacations and festivals came and went, and still she was sick. But this year, flowers bloomed in this city, New York, and in her heart."
© 2012 Montefiore Medical Center