[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S4820]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            LITTLE BOY BLUE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, briefly on another issue, just because each 
day we are bombarded with so much bad news, disappointing news, news 
that makes you want to put the newspaper down or turn off the 
television, I want to share with my colleagues a piece of good news, 
heartwarming news, news that is reflective of the compassion that we as 
an American people have, that we have the opportunity to express at 
times, and this particular incident, I believe, represents it quite 
concretely. It is about a very special 7-year-old boy from Afghanistan.
  His name is Mohammad Omar. He suffers from a congenital anomaly, a 
birth defect that is not all that rare but we didn't know how to treat 
until the beginning of the 1940s, 1950s, when the research was 
initially done. Before that, it had a 100-percent mortality rate. As 
you will tell from the outcome of the story, surgery has changed that.
  His defect is called tetralogy of Fallot. Tetralogy means there are 
four things--It doesn't matter what they are--but it is a hole between 
two chambers of the heart; a ventricular septal defect it is called. 
The second is an outflow tract obstruction from the right ventricle to 
the lungs, and therefore the obstruction there means the blood does not 
get up through the lungs. There is an overriding VSD and then there is 
some right ventricular hypertrophy--the right side of the heart is big 
and very muscular.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, will the Senator yield? Would you like me to 
help explain some of that for you?
  Mr. FRIST. That is three of the four tetralogies. I know my colleague 
knows the fourth is that right ventricular hypertrophy. I would be 
happy to yield to the Democratic leader.
  Mr. REID. I have forgotten quite a bit about that, so maybe you 
should go ahead and explain it.
  Mr. FRIST. I will be brief. But what is fascinating is that with 
science and with the great progress that is made, today it can be 
cured, where before it couldn't. What is interesting about the overall 
story is that Mohammed's father, Fateh, about a year ago--this is over 
in Afghanistan--brought his son to an American military hospital, 
reaching out, not knowing where to go. The province is the Khowst 
Province. He happened to run across my colleagues, or colleagues in the 
military, who are cardiologists, who are heart specialists. And looking 
at the blue appearance--because you don't get this oxygen flow through 
the heart, blood through the right side of the heart--they said it was 
probably tetralogy of Fallot.
  With a few tests they made the diagnosis and they petitioned Mohammed 
to come to the States for treatment, but the visa applications by 
Mohammed and his dad, Fateh, were initially denied. But somewhere out 
there was a little angel looking out, and sure enough they ran into a 
fellow who happened to be a student of mine back at Vanderbilt, Dr. 
Sloane Guy, whom I hadn't seen for a while, and I was with him at a 
time when he was looking to the future, didn't know where he was going, 
whether it was heart medicine, cardiology, heart surgery. He was on 
active duty in Afghanistan.
  He called me and said: Isn't there anything that we can do? So, 
working together, I--and this is really compassion, reaching out, going 
beyond what a lot of people usually do--but working with the State 
Department, again reaching out, the Department of Defense, we were able 
to get approval for young Mohammed to come here and, indeed, on 
Tuesday, just 3 days ago, they arrived at Andrews Air Force Base.
  Yesterday morning, Mohammed underwent surgery at the Children's 
National Medical Center. Straightforward surgery, it would be described 
by Dr. Jonas, Richard Jonas, who is a renowned cardiac surgeon, fellow 
cardiac surgeon, but does the surgery over at Children's National 
Medical Center--fairly routine surgery, although it was pretty complex 
surgery in truth, repairing the hole between the ventricles--the right 
outflow obstruction--and hooking things back up so they flow normally. 
Right now the young boy is still in the intensive care unit. That is 
the normal course, but he is recuperating nicely. You never want to 
predict the long-term outcome because in the first 5 or 6 days anything 
can happen.
  But my point is, that is the kind of story you don't hear. It took a 
lot of people reaching out, coming together, the best of the public 
sector, the best of the private sector, the best of the generosity of 
doctors, the compassion of individuals in Afghanistan who made the 
initial diagnosis coming together with the result that just a few miles 
from here is unfolding.
  Larry King, whom you know, although sometimes we are here after he is 
on at night, many of us turn him on at night, just about every night--
the Larry King Cardiac Foundation provided much of the financial 
support to bring him here. The Afghan Embassy, right now, is providing 
support for the family and support with interpreters and food and the 
like. Dr. Jonas and his cardiac surgical team, including the people who 
run the part of the pulmonary bypass machine, and all the technicians 
there who contributed their time, the great resource of the Children's 
National Medical Center, which is right here--everybody came together 
to make this story possible.
  To me, this reflects the stories that never get told. But it also 
shows how humanitarian outreach can be used as a currency for peace. It 
is built around trust. It is built around outreach. It is built around 
selflessness and going beyond faces that you see every day; everybody 
working towards a common goal.
  So I just wanted to take the opportunity to tell that very brief 
story. I do wish Mohammed a speedy recovery and wish his dad the very 
best. While waiting in Afghanistan, not knowing whether or not this 
lifesaving surgery--without surgery he would die--without knowing 
whether this lifesaving surgery would be provided by people in a 
country they had no idea even existed, in terms of the people, he 
became known as the little blue boy; Little Boy Blue, I guess, is what 
they called him because of that blue appearance.
  So it will be a great story because that blue appearance, Little Boy 
Blue no longer will be Little Boy Blue. He will be a healthy young 
child with a normal lifespan thereafter.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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