By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
Karam Alobadi acts like a typical healthy 11-month-old: He wriggles in his mother's arms as he tries to grab anything his tiny fist can hold, taking in the world with huge brown eyes and the very beginnings of a toothy smile.
But the Iraqi infant, who just two weeks ago had a large hole between the chambers of his heart, is recovering from successful cardiac surgery, courtesy of Gift of Life. The non-profit group was founded by the Brooklyn-Queens-Nassau chapter of the Rotary Club in 1975 with the mission of bringing children from overseas to the United States for heart operations.
Karam's mother, Latifa Hussein, explained how she brought her son from Baghdad to the United States as she fed her son bits of chicken and potatoes at a luncheon last week of the Flushing Rotary Club, the group that hosted her trip.
Karam was receiving a checkup at an Iraqi hospital when a group of Jordanian doctors came to the hospital.
They saw the baby's condition and put Hussein in touch with Gift of Life through a contact, she said.
That contact, an American named Jonathan Miles, partners with both Gift of Life and an Israeli organization called Save a Child's Heart, said John Tucciarone of the Flushing Rotary Club.
“There is nothing in a hospital of my country,” said Hussein, a dentist who left behind a husband and two other children three weeks ago to bring Karam to the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx for surgery.
Hussein was met at the airport by Gift of Life officials who provided transportation and arranged housing for her at the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park.
“It's very beautiful,” she said. “They helped me with everything.”
Tucciarone said a group of Great Neck high school students known as the Interact Club raised $5,000 for Karam's operation, with an additional $1,000 picked up by the Rachel Cooper Foundation, another non-profit group.
Karam was the first Iraqi child brought to the United States by Gift of Life for surgery, Tucciarone said.
Tucciarone said he and Rob Donno, chairman of Gift of Life International, took Hussein to see the Statue of Liberty and an American dental office before her trip was over.
As she cradled her son in her arms among stacks of donated toys and baby clothes, Hussein expressed gratitude for her son's surgery and a strong desire to return to Iraq, even in its post-war disarray.
“I miss my children and my family so I want to return.”
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
