Marilee DahlAmela and Mark in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1997
Amela’s 20 Year Story
Dear friends of the World Children’s Transplant Fund,
As we celebrate the holidays and the arrival of a New Year, I am happy to tell you that with the support of friends like you, 20 New Years have come and gone with good health for a young Bosnian girl named Amela.
I met a very sick 12-year-old Amela Kovacevic in Sarajevo’s Main hospital when I was serving there with the United Nations in 1997. Amela was in deep medical distress with a life threating liver disease. There was little hope for Amela in Bosnia as she needed a liver transplant. The process was not available in Bosnia and the family had no funds for the expenses of a surgery and travel outside of Bosnia’s borders. Friends of the WCTF especially our good friend, car racing legend, Carroll Shelby who recently passed away, supported what became known as “The Amela Project”
Amela came to the Oregon Health Sciences Hospital in the US, for analysis and assessment. Then she flew with her mother and brother to Buenos Aires where Dr Richard Low, a member of our Board coordinated the housing, medical care and all the logistics. In one of the first surgeries of its kind in Argentina. Amela received a lobe of her brother’s liver in a surgery performed by a world class Argentine medical team lead by Dr. Luis Podesta. This process is known as living related organ transplant surgery. After recovery, Amela returned to Bosnia where constant monitoring and anti-rejection medications were a challenge…but she prevailed across the years. Amela calls herself “a fighter and a warrior”.
All of our dreams were fulfilled when she continued to thrive and now, 20 years later, she is married, has two beautiful daughters of her own, and continues to thrive, a trophy of hope and health and a tribute to the many like you who have supported the World Children’s Transplant Fund and it’s mission of enhancing lifesaving transplant surgery to children of our world.
Amela Kovavecic, now Begovic, her husband and her two daughters in 2017, 20 years after the hospital visit!
Won’t you please consider helping all the other “Amela’s” in our world who just like Amela, want to celebrate 20 and more “New Years” in good health.
Here is how you can help:
Donate
Mail your donation to The World Children’s Transplant Fund at:
17404 Ventura Boulevard 2nd Floor, Encino California, 91316USA
Donate online Visit us on the web at WCTF.org and press the donate button.
The WCTF is a 501(c)3 Not for Profit Organization.
Volunteer
Your help is needed. Just reply to this email or contact us on the website at WCTF.org
The children of our world are waiting for us…for you!
For the children,
Mark
P.S. Timing Note on the New US Tax Law. For those of you in the U.S., you may want to consult your tax accountant as there may be benefits to making your charitable donation or estate planned contribution before the end of the 2017 tax year. Be generous!
Mark A. Kroeker, Chairman
World Children’s Transplant Fund