The six month old infant was transferred to Israel in a complex operation led by the Save a Child’s Heart organization, in coordination with the IDF. She was treated at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, marking the second case in which the organization has helped save the lives of Druze children from Syria.
The baby’s mother, Rania, a pseudonym, arrived at Wolfson with her daughter, Asfour, also a pseudonym, carrying all of her personal belongings out of fear she might not be able to return home to southern Syria.
“When she was born, we immediately knew something was wrong with her heart and that she needed treatment,” the mother said. “In Syria, we had no access to this kind of care.”
Dr. Sagie Asa, a senior pediatric cardiologist and head of the organization’s pediatric intervention unit, successfully performed a cardiac catheterization, widening a narrowed pulmonary valve with a balloon.
“She was born with a stenotic valve that caused narrowing and enlargement of the right side of the heart,” Dr. Asa explained. “We were able to correct it with a relatively simple catheterization.”
For Dr. Asa, who grew up with a Syrian Jewish mother and speaks Syrian Arabic, the case carried a personal dimension.
“It felt natural to help them,” he said. “We are culturally close and neighbors. It was moving to meet people we have not been able to reach for years, to communicate and share moments together.”
The baby’s father was wounded in fighting in southern Syria. The treatment, fully funded by Save a Child’s Heart, was ultimately successful. Despite fears she would not be able to return home, Rania traveled alone with her daughter to Israel and later managed to return with her to southern Syria.
“I do not forgive those who burned my home and village, but I have to go back,” she said. “I hope there will be peace like there is here, or that we will have the option to be part of Israel so we can live in security.”
Rania also praised the multicultural medical staff at Wolfson. “Here everyone works together, Jews, Muslims, Druze, people from different religions and backgrounds. I want Syria to be like this,” she said.
Dr. Asa added that the experience was deeply inspiring. “When we fight to save children’s lives, we put differences aside and speak a shared language,” he said. “I tell my children this. In the end, we are all human beings.”
Save a Child’s Heart, founded in 1995, has treated more than 8,000 children from 75 countries, most of them at Wolfson Medical Center. Since 2013, the organization has treated 14 children from Syria.