Posted on 01/02/2006 9:11:04 AM PST by xzins
Army's mercy mission to save baby
January 02, 2006 ATLANTA: An Iraqi baby with a life-threatening birth defect has arrived in the US for medical treatment after being sent by American soldiers who found her during a raid on her family's home.
Three-month-old Baby Noor, as she is called in the US media, was taken by ambulance to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia, a pediatric hospital that is donating surgery and other care for the infant.
Noor al-Zahra 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.
Roger Hudgins, the hospital's chief of neurosurgery, said the child would stay at the hospital overnight for a general evaluation of her condition.
"It's going to take a number of days (to evaluate) if things are stable," he said yesterday. "This child is coming from a foreign country so we need to make sure that she's healthy and capable of withstanding surgery."
He said an operation to close the back of the child's spinal column was tentatively scheduled to take place in a week, but doctors could operate sooner if complications were discovered.
Dr 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, the baby could return home in one or two months.
Noor, wearing an orange suit and carried by her grandmother, Soad, arrived to cheers at the airport. The baby's father, Haider, also travelled to Atlanta.
Her path to the US 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 neighbourhood when 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, Dr Hudgins said.
"Obviously, good works happen every day in Iraq and good works happen with the soldiers," he said.
"We hear all of the negative (stories) so it's about time that we have the opportunity to hear some of the good."
God's prophet would be able to go over the heads of the media and get the message out.
It'll be interesting to see something like that work out.
I first read about this story on CNN in their medical section. I know that's not a newspaper, but it's still surprising.
Perhaps so, but Senator Kerry exposes himself far better than I ever could.
No criticism intended; however, we should be careful not to allow this thread to become an anti-Kerry screed [no matter how much JFngK deserves that!].Let's not lose sight of what is vitally important here: the chance for a normal life for a child doomed by spina bifida to an early death.
The "life-saving" surgery this child will undergo is usually performed either in utero or immediately after birth. This child is now several months old
Prayers are needed for this little girl and for all who are and have been involved in this humanitarian effort ... not only the doctors but also our brave, kind-hearted men in uniform. Blessings on all of them.
Saw it two or more days before CNN even put it in their medical section, on http://www.army.mil and http://www.defendamerica.mil in far more detail that CNN gave it.
You must be prescient, because that's almost a whole year into the future.
While the story is good, and mercy is always noteworthy, what is interesting in this case was that an AUSTRALIAN newspaper picked up on the pro-US Soldier and pro-Army angle.
That would make sense. The army is going to know what's going on within the army before the media would. My point earlier is that even though the media normally won't miss an opportunity to trash the military they still reported this pro-military story last Wendesday.
I think they just had no options to treat her. But out wonderful military took care of that.
And there are many, many other stories like this, that unfortunately you have to seek out if you want to hear about them.
Damn our media.
.
MEL's -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts
.
Only John Karnac Kerry can reveal the future....wrongly.
Kerry's date with Face the Nation was 12/4/2005.
I really dislike being so cynical and wish there were another reason, but I've always felt that the only reason CNN is repeatedly using and pushing the story is the local connection. CNN is based in Atlanta and the story involves the Georgia National Guard and an Atlanta hospital.
Thanks for the link on the other thread.
JnFnKerry is a traitor to the nation.
AWESOME STORY!!
Canteen ping
BTTT
America at her best!
God Bless America!
I'll bet you nailed it.
I'm thinking that it showed up in local papers, and they had no choice but to go with the story. CNN hates America.
You will never find positive stories about Bush, the war or the economy in our MSM. Only unheard of newspapers in far away offbeat places would carry such a positive story.
Same goes for negative stories about Hillary or Bill Clinton. Unattractive pictures, uncomfortable facts, ugly rumors about the Clintons never see the light of day. The same kinds of things for the Bush team never seem to leave the front page.
featured on the CBS early show this morning. tear-jerking how wonderful our guys are.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.