Pvt. Matthew Clifton
MNC-I Public Affairs Office
24 Feb. 05
HEART
CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- "Gladness of heart is the life of man and the joyfulness of man is length of days." -- Ecclesiastes.
These words hold true in the eyes of many men, but they undeniably hit home for a father, a Soldier, a mother and others who devoted time, money and hearts to help a little boy experience the "joyfulness" that comes with the "length of days."
When Sgt. Corey M. Johnston, Company F, 51st Infantry Regiment, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, 525th Military Intelligence Brigade, Fort Bragg, N.C., was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he spent most of his time in Diyanna, Kurdistan. Johnston's mission was to help train and establish Iraqi Border Police.
Lt. Farook Shamsadeen, an operations officer with the IBP, was one of the Kurds working with Johnston and his unit to establish the IBP. While working together, Shamsadeen told Johnston about his nephew who was suffering from a serious heart condition.
"Approximately a week before I redeployed, Lt. Shamsadeen told me about his nephew. He was born with a small hole in his heart and was now five," Johnston said. "As you can imagine, the bigger he got, the bigger the hole got."
The child, Rebaz, was in pretty rough shape. He had difficulty breathing, running, eating and was beginning to develop a bluish color around his mouth and fingertips from time to time, Shamsadeen said.
Kurdish doctors attempted to repair Rebaz's heart with a catheter -- an instrument used to travel through an artery and repair a tear in the heart without doing an actual surgery -- but had been unsuccessful, Johnston said.
Not knowing exactly what he could do to help, Johnston gathered what little medical documentation he could find on Rebaz before returning home.
He collected three documents, some of it written in English and some of it written in Kurdish. It didn't matter what language it was in, he had no idea what any of it meant, he said.
Johnston first contacted Eman Al Gobory, M.D., with the Kurdish Rights Organization in Fairfax, Va., to see if he had any ideas on how to help Rebaz.
Gobory provided Johnston with a packet detailing the things Rebaz would need in order to come to the U.S. and receive medical attention, he said.
"The most difficult process was trying to understand it all," Johnston said. "While applying for visas, passports and FBI background investigations for both Rebaz and his father, Subhi, several times we hit walls and stalled for weeks at a time, trying to find a way around the red tape."
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa pushed for the appropriate documentation for Rebaz to travel to the U.S., Johnston said.
Sixty-three Iowa chapters of an international club called the Rotary Club helped raise the money needed for the airline tickets Rebaz and his father needed, said Cindy Yerington, Johnston's mother.
The Kurdish Human Rights Group out of Virginia also assisted with the mission.
They helped with airfare, hotel, visa and food expenses, Yerington said. On top of that, they escorted Subhi and Rebaz from Irbil, Iraq, to Jordan, to Chicago.
The escorts were crucial because they worked as translators for Subhi and Rebaz, who could not speak, read, or understand English.
Dr. Tom Fagin, a pediatric cardiologist, and Dr. Harold Burkhart, a cardiothorasic surgeon for the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics donated their services to Rebaz, Yerington said.
The rest of the team of doctors agreed to provide their services at the lowest possible rates.
The University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa, took care of all costs associated with the operation, including pre-operation, post-operation, medications and things of that sort, Johnston said.
"I also obtained private donations," Yerington said. "At last count more than $18,000 has been raised."
Yerington took over the process when Johnston deployed to Iraq for the second time in as many years, he said. She opened her home to Rebaz and Subhi for the duration of the operations.
"It is amazing how many moving parts came together for one young child that no one had ever met," Johnston said. "Everyone involved should feel extremely proud of their efforts."
Rebaz had a condition known as "aortopulmonary window," meaning there was a large opening between the aorta and pulmonary arteries that was formed when he was born, Yerington said.
This is a problem found in only 0.2 percent of all congenital heart defects, Yerington said. This condition was very rare and the surgeon at the hospital had only seen two other similar cases, and neither of those patients were as old as Rebaz.
Almost a year to the day Johnston had heard about the Kurdish child with a broken heart, Rebaz was going to finally get the procedures he needed.
Rebaz was to have two procedures done, neither of them granting much of a chance for success, Yerington said.
The first procedure done was a cardiac catherization, which took place on Jan. 19. The process held the hope of patching the hole in Rebaz's heart. It would also measure the pressure in the pulmonary arteries, Yerington said. If the pressure was too high, it would mean too much damage had been done resulting in "rigidity," meaning Rebaz's heart would not be able to handle the large flow of blood that the repair to his heart would cause.
The catherization was a four-hour process, but the hole in Rebaz's heart was too big, she said. The pressure in the arteries was crucial, because the only other option was surgery, and that would not be done if the pressure was too high.
After the catherization, the doctors were concerned Rebaz wouldn't be a candidate for the open-heart surgery, saying he was on 'the edge." The doctors had a meeting to decide whether or not to do the surgery, Yerington said.
Without the surgery, Rebaz was not expected to live another five years, and his death would be a painful one, she said. He would suffer through blood clots, strokes, and infection of limbs due to poor circulation.
There was little choice but to do the surgery. Rebaz was given less than 25 percent chance of survival, and the chance of success for the surgery was even less than that, Johnston said.
The open-heart surgery was performed on Jan. 21. A predicted 5-hour surgery was complete in 3 1/2 hours, Yerington said. The doctors said that his condition was 'very good," and in three months, Rebaz should be treated as any other normal 5-year-old boy.
Right now, Rebaz is recovering quickly at Yerington's home and they hope to be back in Kurdistan in early March, Johnston said.
Arrangements have been made for Subhi and Rebaz to return home, Yerington said. They will leave the U.S. from Chicago's O'Hare Airport on March 25, and fly non-stop to Amman, Jordan.
The Kurdish Human Rights Organization have been informed of the departure and will meet them in Jordan to provide food, shelter and a way back to Kurdistan, Yerington said.
"It has been a rewarding experience.
One which will forever leave an impact in our lives," Yerington said. "This child growing up to be a man would not have been possible if my son did not put forth his efforts to help Rebaz and his father.
I hope he knows what a great thing he did, giving the family hope that a solution could be found for Rebaz, and giving the family faith that their child will live to be an adult."
"It is still hard to know what to take away from all of this," Johnston said. "I think I am still in awe that this has happened. I have never even met this child. I believed that when this war first started we were only here to help people.
I think this just proves that the system is working and the troops are making a difference to help win this war on all levels."
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 03.21.2005 11:49 |
| Story ID: | 1382 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 22 |
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