TODAY'S NEWS
Friday, June 2, 2006; Page C12
Out of the Blue, A Heart-Warming Story
· If you've ever been in the hospital, you know how wonderful it feels to get back home. Seven-year-old Umer Mohammed has a way to go before he gets to go home to Afghanistan, but he took a big step in that direction this week.
Umer was released from a District hospital on Wednesday, almost two weeks after surgery to repair a hole in his heart and remove blockages in passages leading to his lungs. Such defects are normally repaired in infancy, but Umer's condition wasn't fully diagnosed until U.S. Army doctors examined him about a year ago.
  U.S. Army doctors helped bring Umer Mohammed to D.C. for heart surgery. (By Musadeq Sadeq -- Associated Press) |
Umer's heart was four to five times thicker than normal, said Gerard Martin, the chief heart doctor at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, where Umer had surgery.
At the Army field hospital in Afghanistan where Umer waited to come to the United States, he was nicknamed "Blue" because his condition gave his skin a blue tint.
After the surgery, Umer's color was pinker because of improved blood flow. His father jokingly told doctors, "You can't call him Blue anymore. He wants to be called Red."
Umer still needs a little more care before he can go home. Imagine how good that will feel!
