News Anchor Elizabeth Alex from Kansas, United States, met Intisar Al-Dalau while reporting from Gaza. Intisar’s daughter had a club foot and Ms. Alex arranged for mother and daughter to come to Kansas to have the child treated. While there, Intisar, who was pregnant, had some prenatal testing done. The baby, it was discovered, had a fatal, complicated heart defect that would cause his death if not treated immediately after delivery.
The local Jewish and Christian community in Kansas and several nongovernmental organizations made it possible for Intisar to give birth at Hadassah. The moment the baby boy took his first breath, he was handed over to Cardiothoracic Surgeon Prof. Eli Milgalter for life-saving heart surgery and then follow-up intensive care under the direction of Dr. Ido Yatsiv, Head of Hadassah’s Pediatric Critical Care Unit. Intisar recovered from childbirth in a campus apartment–all arranged by Hadassah at no expense to the family.
