KurdistanObserver.com

Hadassah Hospital Hopes To Save Kurdish Boy's Life

Jerusalem Post/  Feb 4, 2005

Prof. Shimon Slavin, chairman of Hadassah's department of bone marrow transplantation and cancer immunotherapy and a world-renowned innovator in the field, received permission from management to accept the child for treatment for his acute leukemia if the family and supporters can raise $127,000. This is a 30-percent reduction in Hadassah's regular fee for foreign patients.

If paid in advance, the money would cover treatment for as long as it takes for Jaff to recover. His parents had to sell all their possessions to flee with their son to Jordan to seek help outside Iraq.

With their son at the King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, they are trying to raise $10,000 to bring him to Jerusalem for preliminary examinations and preparations, find lodging near the hospital and cover their basic living expenses for the first few months.

Slavin has written to the Israeli Embassy in Amman, asking officials to facilitate the family's visa process if they can find funding.

The parents, Serwan and Susan al-Jaff, told Slavin: "Our family suffered so much during the last years. We lost many of our family; all we have in this world is our son. A few months ago, we discovered that our son is ill with a very dangerous disease, myelodysplastic leukemia. After many blood tests, we were told that the only treatment for him is a bone morrow transplant from his brother or sister – but since he is an only child, the only way is to take him to another country that has special bone marrow banks."

They chose Slavin's unit for the procedure since, they were told, there was no time to search the world's bone marrow registries for a perfect match. Thus the only alternative is to transplant "mismatched" allogeneic stem cells from his mother. This procedure is carried out successfully and routinely in only a few medical centers in the world, including Hadassah, and certainly nowhere else in the Middle East.

The Jaffs, although they are highly qualified professionals (a mechanical engineer and computer scientist at the university level, respectively), do not have health insurance and cannot afford to pay for treatment on their own.

Susan lost a baby not long ago in her seventh month of pregnancy, and underwent difficult surgery in Amal Hospital in Jordan. Slavin told the Post that his department was always crowded and had limited resources, but that he would find a bed for the child and offer the best possible treatment if funding could be obtained.

A voluntary organization based in Massachusetts called Peace Vision Project, established last October with the aim of helping wounded and ill Iraqi civilians, including refugees, who need immediate medical treatment and rehabilitation, received a plea for help from the parents and contacted Hadassah. Jane Cadarette and Stuart Leiderman at Peace Vision Project (POB 584, North Andover, Massachusetts 01845 US; tel. 978-686-5777 and e-mail peacevisionproject@att.net) are trying to help.

Cadarette, of Massachusetts, and Leiderman, of New Hampshire, set up the organization to help a badly injured Iraqi woman who they thought might qualify for treatment in the US. Now the non-profit organization is trying to assist some of the large numbers of civilian refugees wounded and fleeing the war in Iraq who urgently need medical treatment and rehabilitation.

"We do not have a ready source of funds for such costly procedures. But the Halabja connection and the opportunity for a successful Kurdish-Israeli-American cooperation to save a young life are compelling reasons for us to make a special effort to find contributors," Leiderman told the Post.