United with Israel
Born with a life-threatening congenital heart disease, two-year-old Hamza from Ramallah underwent complicated open-heart surgery in Israel and returned home last week.
By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel
A little Palestinian boy has returned home from Israel after undergoing life-saving heart surgery at the Save a Child’s Life clinic in the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, known for operating on the hearts of thousands of children from around the world.
Hamza Ali Mohammed was born with life-threatening congenital heart disease and had his first surgery as an infant, but he needed a second operation to survive. He underwent open heart surgery by the SACH volunteer medical team in February and had been hospitalized since then during the coronavirus crisis.
“His recovery was very complicated and they had to connect him to a machine that kept him alive for a few weeks,” said Dr Racheli Sion Sarid of the hospital’s pediatric ICU.
Hamza was very close to death several times.
“I was sure he wouldn’t make it, but every time, somehow, it felt like some kind of a miracle. There is some kind of magic with these children,” she said.
Things got even more complicated after Hamza’s parents were stuck in their home city of Ramallah after they went for a short visit to see their other children but could not return due to coronavirus lockdown.
“The whole medical team in the Pediatric Cardiology unit became his parents,” said Dr Ahmed Amer, an Israeli-Arab physician who is part of the SACH medical team. Dr. Amer became the main contact person for Hamza’s parents, since he speaks Arabic.
“We all became his family. The nurses did shifts to hold him in their arms and play with him. We did not leave him alone for a minute. A child his age and in his condition needs to be hugged and loved in order to recover and get stronger, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Dr Amer spoke with Hamza’s parents every day, sent them pictures and videos and updated them on his recovery. As Hamza’s condition improved, he was able to communicate with his parents through video calls.
“The first few times he saw them on video he began crying and it took us a long time to calm him down,” said Dr Amer, “But he got used to it and we even celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago together with his parents on video.”
On May 7, Hamza left the hospital accompanied by both Dr. Racheli and Dr. Ahmed, who traveled with him to Hizma, where Hamza’s parents waited to be reunited with their son.
In tears, Hamza’s mother thanked the medical team, “We are so grateful for the care you all gave us, the expertise – the high level of expertise, skill, humanity, and conscience.”
“His story is amazing,” said Dr. Racheli. “It is a story about a medical team who fought tirelessly for the life of a critically ill child, a story of a brave little boy who survived against all odds, and a story of people, of human beings, helping each other regardless of their origin and religion. This is the story of Save a Child’s Heart.”
Save a Child’s Heart is an international non-profit organization that has provided care to more than 5,400 children from 62 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and South America. SACH has also trained more than 120 medical professionals from those countries and does the work regardless nationality, religion, color, gender, or financial means.
来自拉马拉的两岁的哈姆扎出生时患有危及生命的先天性心脏病，他在以色列接受了复杂的心脏直视手术，并于上周回国。
作者：亚基尔·本齐翁，与以色列联合
一名巴勒斯坦小男孩在霍伦沃尔夫森医疗中心的拯救儿童生命诊所接受了拯救生命的心脏手术后从以色列回国，这家诊所以治疗来自世界各地成千上万儿童的心脏病而闻名。
哈姆扎·阿里·穆罕默德出生时患有危及生命的先天性心脏病，小时候做过第一次手术，但他需要第二次手术才能存活下来。今年2月，他接受了SACH志愿医疗队的心脏直视手术，此后在冠状病毒危机期间住院治疗。
医院儿科重症监护室的瑞切利·西翁·萨里德医生说：“他的康复过程非常复杂，他们必须把他和一台能让他存活几周的机器连接起来。”。
哈姆扎好几次差点就死了。
“我确信他不会成功，但每次，不知怎么的，都感觉像是奇迹。这些孩子身上有某种魔力，”她说。
在哈姆扎的父母去看望其他孩子，但由于冠状病毒的封锁而无法返回后，他们被困在自己的家乡拉马拉，事情变得更加复杂。
以色列阿拉伯医生艾哈迈德·艾默尔（Ahmed Amer）博士是SACH医疗团队的一员，他说：“儿科心脏科的整个医疗团队都成了他的父母。阿米尔博士成为哈姆扎父母的主要联系人，因为他会说阿拉伯语。
“我们都成了他的家人。护士们轮班把他抱在怀里和他玩耍。我们一分钟都没让他单独呆着。一个和他年龄相仿、身体健康的孩子需要拥抱和爱护，才能康复和变得更强壮，而这正是我们所做的。”
艾默尔医生每天都会和哈姆扎的父母交谈，给他们发送照片和视频，并在康复过程中更新。随着哈姆扎病情的好转，他能够通过视频电话与父母沟通。
“最初几次他在视频上看到他们时，他开始哭了，我们花了很长时间才让他平静下来，”艾默尔博士说，“但他已经习惯了，几周前我们甚至和他的父母一起在视频上庆祝了他的生日。”
5月7日，哈姆扎在拉赫利医生和艾哈迈德医生的陪同下离开医院，艾哈迈德医生和哈姆扎一起前往真主党，哈姆扎的父母在那里等待与儿子团聚。
哈姆扎的母亲含泪向医疗队表示感谢，“我们非常感谢你们给予我们的关怀，感谢你们的专业知识——高水平的专业知识、技能、人性和良知。”
“他的故事太神奇了，”拉切利博士说。“这是一个关于一个医疗队为一个病危儿童的生命而不懈奋斗的故事，一个勇敢的小男孩在各种困难中幸存下来的故事，一个关于人，关于人，关于相互帮助的故事，不管他们的出身和宗教。这就是拯救孩子心灵的故事。”
拯救儿童之心是一个国际非营利组织，为来自非洲、中东、亚洲、欧洲和南美62个国家的5400多名儿童提供了护理。南加州大学还培训了120多名来自这些国家的医疗专业人员，他们从事这项工作，不分国籍、宗教、肤色、性别或经济状况。