Two-Year Old Doing 'Exceptionally Well' Following Open-Heart Surgery
Taya is receiving support from a foundation for the congenital heart disease she was afflicted by.
Two-year-old Taya is recuperating with family on Staten Island after recently undergoing open-heart surgery. Taya suffered from congenital heart disease (CHD). CHD occurs when the heart or blood vessels near the heart don't develop normally before birth, and is the most common birth defect in the United States, but Taya was born in Gaza, Palestine.
Unable to receive the surgery in her native country, Taya and her family were evacuated from Gaza, via Egypt to New York. Cardiac surgeries have been performed in Gaza since 2010, but their health infrastructure has faced deliberate and repeated attacks over the previous 465 days. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Dec. 31 report studied Israel's attacks on hospitals.
The UN Human Rights Office found that Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect on Palestinians’ access to health and medical care.
The attacks, documented between 12 October 2023 and 30 June 2024, raise serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law.
Taya, her sister, and mother arrived in September with support from humanitarian organization Kinder Relief. Kinder Relief self-describes as a foundation of dedicated individuals from all corners of the globe who are working tirelessly to extend support, facilitate temporary evacuation and provide vital resources to critically-injured children and their families. In the last 465 days, Kinder Relief has "evacuated over 110 children, providing them with the critical medical care they urgently need" notes Nadia Ali, Executive Director.
The family is staying with a host family on Staten Island. Taya is recuperating with mom and sister on the Island, and Ali confirms she is doing exceptionally well. Kinder Relief facilitated Taya's treatment to occur at NYU Langone. "Our support extends beyond medical evacuations, as we continue to sustain families currently traveling for treatment while delivering vital relief to displaced families facing the most dire circumstances," says Ali.
Ali is the cofounder, starting the group with other concerned mothers from around the world. Vanessa Barganza, a former case manager at Kinder Relief and law student at Columbia University spoke to PIX11 in September about their work saying,“these children, if we don’t help them, no one will, and there needs to be as much attention on these kids as possible. This is a purely humanitarian thing, and it’s about how much we care about each other as human beings.”
Kinder Relief relies on donations. You can contribute to one of their causes here.
