Dear friends,
On the first of June we received an e-mail from Col. Russell Zelman, a US army surgeon in Iraq. He told us that an infantry patrol had discovered an eight-year-old Iraqi boy who needed heart surgery:
It has since been a long road. Our volunteers in Jordan had Abdul Jabbar and his grandmother flown out to Amman on July 10 to confirm his diagnosis. Our partner hospital in Israel then agreed to accept him for surgery, but the Iraqi grandmother was too frightened to go there. We asked a hospital in Boston to consider his case, but in the end they declined, saying his surgery could wait. Realizing this could be Abdul Jabbar’s one chance in a lifetime, we asked St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa to review his case. They responded enthusiastically, and Abdul Jabbar flew into Tampa Thursday, a few days after Hurricane Charley had blown through. At midday today (Monday) he is due to go into surgery. Please pray with us for the safe conclusion of this mission, born of mercy in the hearts of a combat patrol in Iraq, and also for God’s provision of the cost of airline tickets ($1800).
With thanks,
Jonathan Miles
Coordinator
Shevet Achim
“Behold how good and how pleasant for brothers to dwell together
in unity” (Psalm 133:1)
www.shevet.org