"Heartbeats Amidst Conflict: A Mother's Plea for Carmen"

My name is Doaa Ibrahim. I'm 33 years old and live in Gaza City.

Due to the war in Gaza, we were displaced to the Nuseirat refugee camp, then to Al-Zawayda, and finally to Deir al-Balah.

Doaa and her daughter Carmen in Gaza before the war

My daughter Carmen, who is three years old, was born in 2021 with a congenital heart defect. We discovered that her heart hadn't fully developed; a normal heart has two ventricles and two atria. However, Carmen's ventricles had a large hole between them, making them appear as one, and one of her atria was almost nonfunctional. This caused her blood oxygen levels to drop from the normal 95% and above to around 55%, affecting her growth and weight gain. As she grew, her oxygen levels continued to drop, necessitating two open-heart surgeries: the Glenn procedure and the Fontan procedure.

Carmen as a child and her health report from the Pediatric Hospital.

Unfortunately, there are no specialized children's heart hospitals in Gaza. The medical facilities here are severely lacking, especially in specialized care. We sought help from organizations to get a funded medical referral to any specialized children's heart hospital since these complex surgeries are very expensive, and we can't afford them. We finally secured a referral through the Palestinian Authority to the Holon Pediatric Cardiology Hospital via the Save a Child's Heart organization. However, due to military checkpoints, strict security measures, and multiple rejections, she had the Glenn procedure at two years old instead of at four months, which delayed the Fontan procedure.

Carmen is in the hospital when she has her first surgery

We are now in the midst of a war, with hospitals destroyed, no ongoing healthcare, and a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip. I am pleading for your help to travel to another country to perform the surgery so Carmen can live a healthy life. The cost of her surgery is 20,000 Jordanian Dinars, approximately 29,000 US Dollars. This amount is overwhelming for us as my husband and I both lost our jobs because of the war.

Carmen, now 3 years old, is displaced with her family in Deir al-Balah due to the war in Gaza

I urgently ask for your help to raise this amount to save my beautiful daughter Carmen, who deserves a chance at a healthy life.