Rosa Loves: Art for a heart

By Haley M. Walker

Mike Fretto and the Rosa Loves crew have created a new shirt to bring hope to what can at times seem like a hopeless part of the world.

Rosa Loves released its new design, “Hope Transfusion,” last month in efforts to raise funds needed for a child’s heart surgery in Iraq. Fretto learned of 2-year-old Hussein (whose real name is not being disclosed for security reasons) and his family through the Preemptive Love Coalition. It seeks to bring relief to more than 3,000 Iraqi children with heart conditions waiting for surgery.

Hussein, who is from the Diyala province, was diagnosed with tetralogy of fallot, a combination of four anatomical malformations of the heart and a common condition throughout northern Iraq. A result of this defect is a lack of oxygenated blood circulating throughout the body, causing the heart to work much harder.

According to the PLC, blue fingernails are a common side effect of this condition. In fact, due to threats against his family, his blue fingernails are the only part of Hussein that has been photographed and published.

“There were other photos that we saw of Hussein but we were unable to release them online,” Fretto said. “The photos were of this young child who appeared to be in so much pain and he was crying in all the them; It was tough.”

Fretto explains that many of the families working with the PLC face criticism for dealing with others outside their religious boundaries.

“Most of these families are devout Muslims that are coming out of these communities, where there are a lot of threats against people who either talk to Americans or work with Americans and the non-Muslim world,” he said.

However, he notes that the PLC is starting to bridge some of these divisions by bringing Muslim children to Israel for the heart surgeries.

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For more information on Rosa Loves or Hussein’s story, visit rosaloves.com.
The Preemptive Love Coalition can be found at preemptivelove.org.

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“There is real peacemaking that is happening between cultures and religions,” said Fretto. “It’s really special that just a small group of young people are doing this.”According to the PLC, the high rate of heart disease in Iraqi children cannot be attributed to a single cause. The chemical warfare of Saddam Hussein’s regime, malnutrition and intra-family marriage have all been cited by the organization as possible reasons for the high prevalence of the region.While Hussein’s condition could be treated, his family lacks the necessary finances to fund the surgery. The PLC said that complications of the province have left Hussein’s father, formerly a teacher, without a job.

Through donating 60 percent of the profits received from the shirts, Rosa Loves hopes to raise $4,000 for the cause. The “Hope Transfusion” design will stay available until the goal has been reached, which Fretto expects to be within 2 months.

“The surgeries are not even that expensive when you break it down into U.S. dollars,” he said. “It’s not a lot when you think about the impact it is having on a child.”

Since October 2006, Rosa Loves has designed and sold 17 different shirts to serve local and worldwide needs. The organization has served causes in St. Augustine, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Africa. Hussein’s story will be the first from Iraq or the Middle East.

Fretto noted that since its inception, this fundraising technique has been successful and many goals have been met

“You get to be engaged in the process of helping someone, and you get something in return,” Fretto said. “One of the main reasons why we started doing this was to start making helping people more personal.”