Iraqi baby begins crucial medical treatment in US

By Karen Jacobs

ATLANTA (Reuters) – An Iraqi baby with a life-threatening
birth defect arrived in the United States on Saturday for
medical treatment after being sent by U.S. soldiers who found
her during a raid on her family’s home.

The baby, three-month-old Noor, was taken by ambulance to
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, a pediatric hospital that is
donating surgery and other care for the infant, after flying
into Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Noor was born with spina bifida, a birth defect in which
the spinal column fails to completely close, leaving part of
the spinal cord exposed and susceptible to life-threatening
infection. She has a large growth on her back.

“The infant is in good condition, is responsive and smiling
and seemingly resting comfortably,” the hospital said in a
statement after doctors completed an initial evaluation.

She remains at the hospital for continued examination, the
statement added.

Roger Hudgins, the hospital’s chief of neurosurgery, said
at a news conference before Noor arrived that doctors would
likely take a few days to evaluate her condition before any
operation.

“This child is coming from a foreign country so we need to
make sure that she’s healthy and capable of withstanding
surgery,” Hudgins said. He said surgery to close the back of
the child’s spinal column was tentatively scheduled to take
place in a week or so.

Hudgins said that although the surgery would be a
“significant undertaking,” he thought Noor’s chances of
survival were good. The surgery to close the spinal column
would take three hours, and if successful, Noor could likely
return home in one or two months, Hudgins added.

Noor, wearing an orange suit and carried by her
grandmother, arrived to cheers at the airport. The baby’s
father also made the trip to Atlanta.

Her path to the United States began earlier this month when
soldiers with the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade
Combat Team searched her family’s home in a poor Baghdad
neighborhood, looking for insurgents.

They found none, but the baby’s grandmother showed the
soldiers the purple pouch protruding from the child’s back and
the soldiers sought help in finding her treatment.

Without intervention, Noor would have died, Hudgins said.

On Friday, the infant and her relatives were flown by the
U.S. military to Kuwait, where they boarded a commercial flight
to the United States.

Childspring International, a children’s medical charity,
helped set up the trip and arranged for Noor and her relatives
to stay with an Arabic-speaking family while the infant
undergoes medical treatment in Atlanta.