A gift of life for a broken heart in Fallujah

MNFI:

Sounds of joy and laughter resonate through a police station’s narrow hallways. A young boy slowly enters through a doorway at the end to greet the boisterous group of Marines, but the sounds of excitement quickly diminish as they see him gasping for air after walking just a short distance.

The boy, five-year-old Ahmed, is the son of Warrant Officer Othman Mallouki, an Iraqi policeman with Fallujah Headquarters District. Since his birth, Ahmed has suffered from a rare but fatal heart condition that if left untreated, will eventually kill him at an unthinkable, young age.

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Ahmed’s condition was diagnosed at Fallujah Surgical when Marines took him in for an examination, said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Craig W. Pasanen, a corpsmen with the team. Doctors discovered a hole in the septum of his heart that causes oxygen and deoxygenated blood to pass through the heart and not the lungs.

Mallouki and his son have been working with coalition forces for the past year in attempts to get the money and medical attention that they so desperately need to help Ahmed.

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Several months ago, members of the team contacted representatives at “Gift of Life,” who began sponsoring Mallouki and Ahmed. In June, Mallouki was able to apply for Visas that would allow the father and son access into Jordan. Their travel expenses were also covered by the charitable organization, and Transition Team members organized several convoys to Baghdad, Iraq, to assist.

Ahmed will finally undergo the surgery he’s needed sometime this month.

“Before I could not hope for anything at all and I was depressed all the time,” said Mallouki. “Now I feel in my heart a sense of hope that my son will grow up normal. I would not have this hope in my life if it weren’t for the Marines here.”

While much of the media would rather talk about what happened at Haditha than what the Marines have done since they tamed Fallujah, it would be a shame if these acts of compassion went unnoticed by the rest of us.