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Iraqi baby begins crucial medical treatment in US

Posted on: Saturday, 31 December 2005, 21:29 CST

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.

Source: REUTERS

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