From an article that appeared in the printed edition of "Yediot Aharonot" and on "Ynet", website of Yediot Aharonot, Health Section, on January 20, 2005

L to R: Majed,  Gali and Prof. Vidne

Who would have believed it: an Iraqi youngster arrived in Israel for heart surgery; “When I get home, I will tell everyone what good people there are here,” said his father following the successful operation

Not so long ago, no one could have imagined such a screenplay – an Iraqi teenager arriving in Israel to undergo surgery to correct a congenital heart defect. But this is exactly what happened recently at Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel in Petach Tikvah.

Majed Ra’uf from the town of Kirkuk suffered from a complex heart disorder since birth – narrowing of the valve in the right ventricle and a hole between the chambers of the heart. Majed had difficulty hiding his excitement after the operation. “Now I want to return to be like a normal person, to be ready, to get married. Without the help of the good people here, I would not be able to think about such things,” an emotional Majed told his father, Ra’uf.

“I did not believe that I would ever in my life come to Israel,” said the father, Ra’uf elatedly, “when I return, I will tell everyone what good people there are here. I have no words to thank the medical team.”

Majed’s family could not afford the cost of the operation in Iraq. “We tried to lead a normal life despite the problems,” said Ra’uf. “But the disorder interfered with Majed. He stopped going to school in Grade 3, and hardly ever left the house since.”

It was due to the war in Iraq that new hope was brought to Majed. Following the victory in Kirkuk, members of the pro-Israeli Christian American-British “Shevet Ahim” (brotherhood society) organization, arrived in the town. Through the assistance of volunteers in the organization, contact was made with Prof. Bernardo Vidne, Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Schneider Children’s, and a short while later, Majed and Ra’uf arrived in Israel, via Jordan. “Majed is lucky to have lived till today,” explained Prof. Vidne. “We perform surgery to repair this defect in children up to the age of a year. It is impossible to live this way for a long time.”

“Shevet Ahim” saw to both father and son as well as to their social needs. Every day, 71 year-old Gali Nakash from Or Yehuda came to visit them. Nakash immigrated to Israel from Iraq in the fifties. “It is very nice for me to meet someone from Iraq. We speak the same language, we connected, and we will surely stay in contact,” said Gali.

Majed and his father are now waiting to go home. “We already miss it,” say the two, despite their fears of the tough situation prevailing in Iraq.

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