The Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Eighteen-year-old Omar Shourti from the West Bank town of Nablus arrived on January 1, 2016 in India to start treatment that will hopefully lead to a successful heart transplant procedure. The PCRF is supporting his treatment abroad, as no such care is available to him in the Middle East. We are all praying for a successful procedure and a chance to see the boy back in Palestine again soon.

During the last week of December, Dr. Zeena Salman, a pediatric oncologist from Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York, volunteered her time to come to the Huda Al Masri Pediatric Cancer Dept. in Beit Jala to help support the hard-working staff in the dept. that the PCRF built and opened in 2013, and also crossed into the besieged Gaza Strip to help oversee the building of the first dept. by the PCRF in the Specialized Pediatric Hospital in Gaza City. Dr. Salman has been actively volunteering with the PCRF for over a year and is playing a leading role in the building up of oncological and hematology services for children in Palestine.

During the month of December, the PCRF is providing poor children all over Gaza winter supplies to help them deal with the terrible weather that they face, particularly those who are still impacted by the attacks from the summer of 2014. In the central Gaza area, which includes the four refugee camps of Maghazi, Deir el Balah, Nuseirat and Breij, the PCRF staff distributed to over 220 children jackets, shoes, blankets, clothing, umbrellas, lights and other basic supplies to help them deal with the harsh winter elements.

On December 29, five of our electric beds that were ordered for the Ramallah pediatric ICU arrives in the Palestine Medical Complex. This is part of the PCRF’s one-million dollar project to build a pediatric cardiac surgery program for children who are suffering from congenital heart disease in Palestine. Earlier this month, our first medical team arrived here, led by UK surgeon Dr. B. Sethia, and did five open-heart operations. These beds are part of the building and expansion of the pediatric ICU, which is a crucial component of this project.

During December, the PCRF humanitarian field-workers in north Gaza distributed for over 1,000 children winter clothing and other supplies, as part of our Urgent Gaza Relief campaign. This is part of a project all over Gaza in which we are identifying children whose homes were destroyed or who are special poverty or social cases in need of winter clothing, and giving them for free jackets, shoes, clothing, hats, gloves, lights, umbrellas and winter blankets to help them deal with the cold and rain.

During this special time of year, the best gift to give is one that heals. Make this holiday season a memorable one by providing a #Gift2Heal and sponsoring the medical and humanitarian needs of a child in the Middle East for only $62 a month.

This holiday season, what better way to gift a friend or family member something that changes the life of poor and needy children in the Middle East than sponsoring a child in need of help. Since 2000, the PCRF has been identifying sick or injured kids throughout the Middle East who are suffering from a chronic medical condition which requires resources that their poor families cannot easily provide for them. For $62 a month, you can ensure that your gift will heal a child who currently is living in a refugee camp, under siege or under military occupation, showing them the love and compassion that symbolizes this holiday season. 

On Friday, November 4th, a four-member team of doctors and nurses returned to the besieged Gaza Strip to start a week of reconstructive surgery on injured and deformed children who cannot be treated locally. The team is led by plastic surgeon Dr. Walter Künzi and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Johannes Kuttenberger, who have been on many past missions to Gaza through the PCRF and operated on hundreds of children. Also returning to help our children were scrub nurses Linda Christen and Kathrin Schulze. Children in Gaza are suffering from many obstacles to getting adequate care, many of them as a result of the political realities of living in an occupied country. We welcome and appreciate the hard work of this team for their courage and humanity.

Ameer Ali is a two year old Palestinian Refugee living in Jordan. He was born with a tibial deformity in both his legs. Earlier this year he underwent surgery to amputate both his legs. Earlier last month Ameer and his mom traveled to Greenville, SC where Ameer will be fitted with a pair of customized prosthetic legs at the Shriners Children’s Hospital. Today he was measured and fitted for his very own prosthetic legs. He will return later this month for his final fitting after which he will begin physical therapy to learn to use his new prosthetics. We would like to recognize and thank prosthetist Clarissa Rose, physical therapist Chelsie Reed, and Dr. David Westberry of Shriners hospital for all their hard work and effort to help Ameer walk. We also thank the entire Greenville community for all they are doing to help support Ameer and his mom. Finally we would like to thank our Charlotte PCRF chapter who have been hosting and caring for Ameer and will continue to do so over the next couple of weeks while he continues receives this care. 

On December 5th, a nine-member team of doctors and nurses from the Royal Brompton Hospital in London arrived in Palestine to start a week of open-heart surgery on babies with congenital heart disease. Led by Dr. B. Sethia, who has been on over a dozen of past volunteer missions for the PCRF and has saved the lives of hundreds of Palestinian babies, the team also included anesthesia and intensivists Dr. Louise Kenny, Dr. Alistair Cranston and Dr. Dannielle Seddon, perfusionist Nigel Cross, and ICU nurses Katie Goodliffe, Kathryn Gardner, Lydia Lofton and Julie Combes. The PCRF has spent over one million dollars in expanding and equipping the pediatric ICU in Ramallah and building up the pediatric cardiac surgery services in the past year. We thank this team for their courage and humanity. 

Last month Nourline Samamra a 2 yr old child from the Ramallah area underwent a life changing surgery. She was born with esophageal atresia. Since birth she was unable to enjoy a meal, rather she was fed through a G tube that was placed in her abdomen. Multiple attempts to correct this issue in Palestine failed. Her only hope to correct this problem was surgery at an advanced children’s hospital outside of Palestine. Special thanks to Dr Saad Saad a renowned pediatric surgeon along with his team Dr Tom Cohen and Dr. Diana Thaung from the Monmouth Children’s hospital who performed her surgery last month. She has been in the ICU recovering since the surgery. Today she finally made her way out of the ICU and into a normal room. She is now able to eat mashed foods and drink all sorts of liquids, something she was never able to do before. The hope is to soon have her eating all types of foods: liquids, mashed, and solids. Nourline and her mom have been under the care and support of our PCRF NJ chapter. We thank the volunteers and community for coming together to help support them. The last few weeks were especially tough but together our community and chapter helped this family through even the toughest nights. Nourline still has a long road ahead of her but the PCRF is committed to helping her through it all.

The PCRF is continuing to work with the Center for Mind Body Medicine to provide dozens of children from all over the Gaza Strip mental health counseling. This is part of a long-term relationship with the CMBM and the PCRF, supported by Cycling4Gaza to help heal the mental scars of the 2014 war, the continuous siege in Gaza and the occupation in Palestine. We have seen marked improvement in the lives of our children and hope to continue to heal their mental scars.