One of the most flagrant attacks on a medical facility during the war took place in May 1992 when Bosnian Serb forces, at close range, repeatedly shelled the Children's Clinic, Kosevo Hospital, Sarajevo. Dr. Esma Zecevic, chief of pediatrics, moved all of the young patients, including 17 premature babies, to a basement shelter at a nearby clinic. Hours after they evacuated, the neonatal unit burned to the ground. In the shelter, nine of the babies died because incubators had not been transported. Forty-seven years' worth of medical records were destroyed. More than 1,000 children died during the siege of Sarajevo.

Many children have inoperable cancer tumors now or await necessary medications to treat conditions such as leukemia. There is still little oxygen available in the clinic. Yet Dr. Zecevic perseveres, working long days in her clinic. Though small in stature, Dr. Zecevic epitomizes the word courage. She was shot by a sniper while caring for her niece at her brother's home in the Turkish quarter of Sarajevo. She worked for several days with the bullet lodged in her chest before being evacuated to Boston for life-saving surgery. Within a week of the surgery, Esma was back in Sarajevo tending to her young patients.

Muhammed (below) is from Gorazde. There is no functioning hospital there and he has congenital heart disease. At the time of our visit, he needed to be evacuated immediately for medical treatment abroad. He had been waiting four months for a sponsor. He didn't remove his hand from his chest the entire time we visited with him.

"The front lines were 50 meters from the clinic. We had to evacuate since there was no safe place for the children. Had we waited even a few minutes more, all of our babies would have burned alive. One floor collapsed on top of us. This went on for what seemed an eternity."

--Esma Zecevic, M.D.