It Started With a Photo

A picture from a war-torn nation leads an Iraqi boy here for surgery

Journey to peace

Lt. Col. Robert Balcavage gives 4-year-old Mohammed a big hug during a feast honoring U.S. troops in Iraq. Balcavage led Mohammed’s journey from Iskan Province to the Lehigh Valley.

Lt. Col. Robert Balcavage sent regular updates home from Iraq and even included pictures. In the background of one photo was a little boy wearing just a T-shirt. “Who is he?” asked Robert’s brother, Eric, a chiropractor with a calling for community service.

As they talked, he learned more about Mohammed Kareem Moh Alshehabi. The 4-year-old boy was born without an opening to eliminate solid waste. He has a colostomy but didn’t have access to bags. He also needed surgery to restore normal bowel function. It’s a routine procedure in the United States but impossible to find in Iraq, where surgeons have fled and those remaining are overwhelmed with combat injuries.

“Eric called me and said, ‘Mom, there’s a boy in Iraq who needs colostomy supplies,’ ” says Robert and Eric’s mom, Carol Balcavage, R.N., enterostomal therapy (ET) nurse coordinator. “Then he asked, ‘Do you know a hospital that might sponsor him for surgery?’ ”

Ironically enough, Balcavage founded the hospital’s ostomy department in 1977. She located supplies immediately. Then she worked to get Lehigh Valley Hosptial and Health Network to sponsor the surgery.

She contacted physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists and radiologists—all of whom offered their services at no cost.

She also got approval from senior management. “We realized that with so many local people and organizations involved, helping the Balcavages in this way helped serve our community,” says Chuck Lewis, senior vice president, development, marketing and public affairs. When Iraq then demanded sponsorship papers, Lewis raced to get the needed signatures.

Home away from home

Mohammed (center) and his escort, Kitba Nasar Faehah Al-Shhbany (right), are staying with Amel Yahya (left) of Laurys Station. Carol Balcavage, R.N. (center), helped make the living arrangements with the help of the local Muslim community.

The Journey to Surgery
Political strife made it difficult to get Mohammed out of Iraq’s Iskan Province, two hours from Baghdad. Robert Balcavage negotiated the journey with Iraqi officials and the village sheik, whose wife is Mohammed’s escort. After a few setbacks when it seemed his departure wouldn’t happen, Mohammed and his escort, neither of whom speak English, arrived at New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

“When I first saw him all I could think is, ‘He’s so adorable!,’ ” Carol Balcavage recalls.

To communicate with Mohammed and best help him, the Balcavages enlisted the help of Dawn Costello, mother of pediatrician Kelly Costello, M.D. She worked closely with the local Muslim community to find Mohammed a host family in Laurys Station. When Mohammed arrived, hospital colleagues made him feel at home.

Ruth Duffield, R.N., gave him a “shadow buddy” doll with a colostomy bag to help explain the surgery. Arabic-speaking colleagues at ABC Family Pediatricians in Allentown greeted the boy and called him “Hamoodi,” a nickname for Mohammed.

William Hardin, M.D., the hospital’s new pediatric surgeon, performed the first surgery during the first week of February. He was accompanied by Aras Ali, M.D., an Arabic-speaking anesthesiologist who communicated with the little boy and kept him calm. When Mohammed was scared of the gurney, the anesthesiologist carried him to the operating room, speaking softly to him all the while.

Mohammed will need a second surgery in March to close the colostomy. In the meantime, his postoperative nurses and aides have learned some Arabic words, like stomach and pain. They are doing everything possible to keep the boy happy and comfortable as he recovers from the first surgery. The surgeries are critical for his self-esteem as he grows.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Mohammed,” Carol Balcavage says. “It’s wonderful for all of us here, too. It’s amazing to see how this little child from the photo has bridged the divide between politics, religion and war.”

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