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For
Cindy Yerington, the decision to sponsor the visit
of an Iraqi man and his 5-year-old son to Iowa so
the boy could have life-saving heart surgery was
easy. It was the rest that turned out to be a series
of challenging, but rewarding hurdles. The story was
told to Wellman and West Liberty Rotarians at a
recent meeting in Riverside, where the Iraqi father
and sons were the featured guests. Yerington, a West
Liberty resident, first heard of Subhi and Rebaz
Shamsadeen through her son, Sergeant Corey Johnston,
an Army Ranger medic now serving his second tour of
duty in Iraq. Johnston had been approached by an
Iraqi soldier who talked about his young nephew,
Rebaz, who had a heart defect and needed help.
The boy's older brother had already died of the same
condition and, without help, so would Rebaz.
The road to Iowa - USA
Together, Yerington and Johnston started researching
into what it would take to get Rebaz to the United
States, where he could receive medical care and,
hopefully, surgery, to repair the condition.
"We started looking into it and thought it was going
to be pretty difficult," said Yerington. "Every
place I turned I was running into a wall."
Thanks to Yerington's persistence, the walls started
to crumble and everything began to fall into place.
A military colonel wrote Yerington a letter, saying
it would be in the best interest of the United
States and its military to help this boy get the
medical attention he needed. Yerington's neighbor
Kathy Schneider, a research coordinator in the adult
cardiology department at University of Iowa
Hospitals in Iowa City, took Rebaz's case to the
doctors in her department, who agreed to either
provide their services free or at a low rate.
Sixty-three Rotary clubs of Iowa donated more than
$18,000 and committed to paying Rebaz's bills for
tests and hospitalization. And a Kurdish
human-rights group agreed to pay for Rebaz and
Subhi's travel expenses from Kurdistan to Jordan and
round-trip from Jordan to Chicago.
On December 30, the impossible happened. Subhi and
Rebaz Shamsadeen met the Yeringtons for the first
time at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and began their
trek to West Liberty, where they have been staying
with the Yeringtons while Rebaz receives care at
University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City.
A risky procedure
Even after the difficult process of getting Rebaz
and his father to Iowa to see the doctors at
University of Iowa Hospitals, there were no
guarantees.
Rebaz was born with an aortopulmonary window, a hole
in his heart that developed in uterine. If he had
been born in the United States, the condition would
have been repaired shortly after birth, Yerington
said. Doctors in Iowa City were skeptical that they
would be able to successfully repair the hole
without risking Rebaz's life.
The doctors got their first look at Rebaz and his
heart on January 3, when the boy checked into the
hospital for a series of tests, a chest X-ray, an
electrocardiogram and an ultrasound of his heart,
which have become routine for the energetic boy.
Rebaz was back in the hospital on January 18 for a
heart catheterization, at which time doctors decided
to schedule the surgery for January 21, which,
coincidentally, is a special religious holiday for
Muslims, the culmination of the pilgrimage to Mecca.
"They didn't think he would survive the surgery,"
said Yerington. "I was so worried. I felt
responsible because I'd brought them here."
But the surgery, which took three-and-a-half hours,
was successful, and ended an hour and a half earlier
than doctors expected. Since then, Rebaz has been
doing everything ahead of schedule, including
returning to the Yerington home after just one week
of hospitalization when doctors estimated he would
be there for 14 days.
"Before the Americans came to Kurdistan it would
have been financially impossible to go anywhere to
get help for Rebaz," said Subhi through an
interpreter. "It was a miracle that this happened
and it was only possible through Cindy."
Subhi's assessment of the success of the operation
is shared by Yerington.
"It was a miracle," said Yerington of the surgery
and Rebaz's recovery. "He's a very active boy. He's
been playing around the house with his oxygen tank
and just has so much energy."
At his checkup on February 28, Rebaz was removed
from oxygen, which he'd been on since the surgery,
and was taken off all medication except baby
aspirin. Doctors anticipate he will be discharged
from their care in two weeks, able to return home
with Subhi to be reunited with his mother and
9-year-old sister.
Help from the community
With monetary support coming from the Rotary, West
Liberty's own Rotary Club has helped in additional
ways. President Ken Donnelly has spent quite a bit
of time with Subhi and Rebaz, taking them to a
mosque and the IMAX theater in Cedar Rapids for a
showing of "The Polar Express."
A guest of the Rotarians, the Shamsadeens also
attended a banquet in Coralville in honor of the
Rotary's 100th anniversary. The guests of honor,
Subhi and Rebaz, sat at a front table with UI
President David Skorton, Iowa City Mayor Ernie
Lehman, Coralville Mayor Jim Fossett and Iowa State
Bank and Trust President Charlie Funk.
"President Skorton made a paper airplane out of the
program and gave it to Rebaz," said Donnelly. "I
tried explained to them who (Skorton) is by telling
them he is president of the hospital. They
understood that."
Donnelly said he's grateful for the time he's been
able to spend with Subhi and Rebaz.
"It's been fun. I will miss him when he's gone,"
Donnelly said of Rebaz. "We literally saved a life."
Returning home
Yerington's attention has now turned to how Subhi
and Rebaz will get back to their home in Iraq.
When they made their trip to Iowa in December, the
Shamsadeens were helped by a Kurdish human-rights
group, which provided transportation from their home
in Iraq to Jordan, where they stayed for a week
until they could secure visas for travel to the
United States. The way back may not be as easy.
"I'm worried about how they will get from Jordan to
home. Kurdish Human Rights has pretty much dropped
off the face of the earth," said Yerington.
Yerington said she is determined to make sure Subhi
and Rebaz have a safe way back. However, when it
comes to the big picture, Yerington said she's not
that worried about this bump in the road.
"This is such a small thing," she said of the
problem of getting the Shamsadeens from Jordan to
their home in Iraq. "The hurdles until now were a
lot higher."
Yerington said she doesn't know how she'll stay in
contact with the Shamsadeens once they return home.
"There's no post office, no computer. They have
nothing," said Yerington. "Corey tells me we'll go
back and visit in five years, but it's too unsafe
now."
Yerington said she knows she'll miss the father and
son her family has come to know so well.
"I worry about when they leave. I'll have empty-nest
syndrome," she said. "I love that child like he was
my own grandson."
a lasting effect
At first, communication between the Shamsadeens and
the Yeringtons was difficult, as the Yeringtons
didn't speak Kurdish or Farsi/Persian, which Subhi
learned during the 21 years he spent in a Kurdish
refugee camp in Iran, and the Shamsadeens didn't
speak English.
Thanks to 10 pages of Kurdish words supplied by the
U.S. military, a Farsi/Persian-English dictionary
purchased online, a lot of gesturing and an
occasional visit from an interpreter, the families
are finding communication a little easier. Yerington
is already considering learning Farsi after the
Shamsadeens leave Iowa.
One thing about the whole experience is for sure:
The Yeringtons and everyone else who has met and
become acquainted with Subhi and Rebaz Shamsadeen
will not soon forget them.
"This experience really puts a face on the war,"
said Yerington. "I wish more people could meet
them."
Subhi said the thing he has enjoyed most about Iowa
and his trip to the United States is the people and
how friendly they have been to him and to Rebaz.
The lasting effects of the Shamsadeens' stay in Iowa
are yet to be seen, but already Yerington said she
is trying to think of ways she can help people like
Rebaz and Subhi. Never one to sit back and watch,
Yerington has already established herself as a
strong community volunteer through her work helping
to start Treats for Troops and raising money so
Angela Espinoza, a West Liberty woman dying of
cancer, could take her children to Disney World.
Yerington said she never questioned her decision to
help bring Rebaz to America.
"I don't think what I did is that extraordinary. I
thought we were just doing something natural. When
your child comes to you asking you to help someone,
you do it," she said. "My daily activities are
helping someone who truly needs me. There's this
sense of accomplishment, sense that I'm doing
something good."
Subhi said his family will always be grateful to
Johnston and the Yerington family for what they did
for Rebaz.
"I will never forget Iowa," he said through an
interpreter. "I hope to have at least more child, a
daughter, and name her Cindy."
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