Buy this photo   Karen Mancinelli / daily Record   Dr. Joel Hardin, director of cardiology at the Children's Hospital of New Jersey, uses diagrams to explain to an 8-month-old Iraqi boy's heart abnormality to the infant's mother after an eco-cardiogram. The infant, under the care of a Denville family, underwent a successful six-hour operation Monday to repair the congenital heart defect, said officials at the hospital.

BY ROB JENNINGS
DAILY RECORD
An 8-month-old Iraqi boy being hosted by a Denville family underwent a successful 6-hour operation Monday to repair a congenital heart defect, said Children's Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center officials.

"He did well," said Dr. Joanne Starr, the hospital's director of cardiac surgery.

The boy, brought to the U.S. by his mother in January, will require additional surgery in four to six weeks to fix a hole in his heart, Starr said.

In the meantime, the boy -- who will be discharged from the hospital in about a week -- will stay with his mother at the home of Aref Assaf, a former Denville Rotary Club member who agreed to host the family.

The Newark hospital is picking up the tab for his medical care.

"He did not have a blood vessel between the right heart and the arteries going to his lungs," Starr said. "We made a new blood vessel, in essence. He had developed abnormal blood vessels. We took one and brought it together with the other blood vessels going to his lungs," Starr said.

Concerned about his chronic coughing and breathing difficulties, the mother brought her newborn -- then 2 months old -- to a medical facility in Iraq staffed by U.S. doctors. Their preliminary diagnosis of a heart defect required confirmation in a specialized hospital.

After a series of phone calls, a referral was made to Dr. Joel Hardin of Morristown, the hospital's director of cardiology. He authorized pro bono medical care for the infant.

Hardin, a former U.S. Navy medical corps commander stationed in Iraq for most of 2004, said that it is not uncommon for American physicians and hospitals to aid Iraqi newborns, free of charge. The mother's journey to the U.S. was kept secret because Iraqis perceived as U.S. sympathizers can be targeted for death.