Kosovar Children Arrive in Tampa Bay for Life-Saving Surgery, Oct. 9

Samaritan's Purse
Monday, 8 October 2001

Local Community Teams Up with Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse to Give Children Medical Treatment Unavailable in Their Country

Four children from Kosovo with serious heart defects may not know the magnitude of the gift they will soon receive, but what their families know is that next month these children will return to their homeland with a second chance to live normal, healthy lives.

Fourteen-year-old Kujtim Qerkinaj, five-year-old Visare Gashi, three-year-old Art Asolli, and one-year-old Beart Statovci will arrive in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, October 9, with their mothers and two interpreters—courtesy of Samaritan's Purse, the North Carolina-based relief organization headed by Franklin Graham.

The children have been diagnosed with life threatening heart defects ranging from Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) to Tetralogy of Fallot. Qerkinaj and Gashi will be treated at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. These are the first children Samaritan's Purse has brought to St. Petersburg, Fla. as part of the organization's Children's Heart Project. Asolli and Statovci will be treated at Tampa's Children's Hospital at St. Joseph's.

Samaritan's Purse handled travel logistics for the children, their mothers, and the interpreters; paid for all travel expenses; and arranged for Without Walls International Church and two local families to host the children during their recovery period in the United States.

The Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project identifies children with life-threatening heart disease in countries that lack technology and training, and matches them with surgeons and hospitals in the United States that are willing to donate their time and services.

Since the program started in 1997 in response to a critical need in Bosnia, the Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project has brought more than 130 children to the United States for life-saving heart treatment. In addition to medical care, Samaritan's Purse provides state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and training for doctors overseas. The machines enable doctors in those countries to better diagnose defects, identify candidates for surgery, and ensure that the children are matched with the proper specialists in the U.S.

For more information, or to contact Samaritan's Purse, see their website at: www.samaritanspurse.org