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DEL.ICIO.USInfant ruled fit to fly to U.S.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Curtis Compton/AJC
"It just makes you feel good inside knowing you're doing something for a sick child," says Staff Sgt. Darryl Clark, feeding Noor. • MORE PHOTOS
Baghdad, Iraq — It was a sound not heard before around the Georgia soldiers’ trailers at Camp Liberty: the frantic cries of a hungry baby.
Staff Sgt. Darryl Clark, 40, picked up the tiny girl, Noor al-Zahra, and put the small plastic bottle filled with baby formula into her mouth, gently rocking her frail body in his arms. Within minutes, the baby had fallen sleep.
“That’s just good stuff,” said Clark, a soldier in the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team. “It just makes you feel good inside knowing you’re doing something for a sick child of that age.
“It got me all teary-eyed,” Clark said later about the baby that soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment’s Charlie Company are trying to send to the United States so she can receive the medical care she needs to correct a life-threatening spinal cord defect.
“If I hadn’t gotten out of there when I did, I would’ve been crying my head off,” said Clark, a full-time Guard soldier who has six children.
Charlie Company soldiers fetched Noor, her father, Haider, and grandmother, Soad, from the family home in impoverished Abu Ghraib on Tuesday night and brought them back to Baghdad’s Camp Liberty.
After an hourlong examination Wednesday morning, two Army doctors declared Noor, born in September with a severe form of spina bifida, medically fit to fly to Atlanta, where several organizations and hospitals have volunteered services to care for the baby and her guardians.
Noor requires surgery to repair her spinal cord, which did not fully close during her mother’s pregnancy.
If everything works out, the baby could arrive in Atlanta as early as New Year’s Day.
Normally, conversation in Charlie Company’s command post centers on battle space and insurgent activity in the treacherous neighborhoods of eastern Abu Ghraib. Wednesday, the discussion among the machine gun-toting soldiers was far more challenging: where to buy diapers and baby formula.
At times, Charlie Company’s office felt more like a travel agency than a military operations center. Company commander Capt. Anthony Fournier spent a good chunk of his day negotiating necessary paperwork and making travel arrangements. He said the family would fly on a military plane to Kuwait, where they will board a commercial flight to Atlanta via Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Well into the night, Fournier was still on the phone with Army officials and Atlantans who are involved in the case.
“I don’t think this is a diversion from our fight over here,” said Fournier, a schoolteacher from Augusta. “It’s a big part of the fight.
“The terrorists’ strategy is to do bad things and blame it on the Americans. This goes directly against that: offering peace and freedom against the terrorists’ death and destruction,” he said of the efforts to save “Baby Nora,” the nickname soldiers have given little Noor.
Childspring International, an Atlanta-based charity that links sick children from the developing world to hospitals in America, is sponsoring the family for the visas. A doctor at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has agreed to perform Noor’s surgery at no cost.
Childspring’s development director, Helen Shepard, said her agency typically does not support male family members because they are considered a greater immigration risk.
But Shepard said her group would take responsibility for Noor’s father if the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad grants him a visa.
Fournier said the U.S. Embassy has agreed to expedite visas for the family.
Noor’s grandmother, the matriarch of the family, said Wednesday that she would not travel without her son by her side. It is uncommon for a traditional Muslim woman such as Soad to travel unaccompanied by a male relative.
Lacking the resources to treat her in Iraq, doctors here told the family that Noor would not live past 45 days. The gap in her spinal cord left her susceptible to infection and fluid buildup in her brain.
But Noor was almost 3 months old when Charlie Company soldiers discovered her during a house-to-house search for suspected insurgents in mid-December.
“One of the women in that house mentioned to me there was a sick baby,” said Pfc. Justin Donnelly, a 19-year-old Charlie Company medic from Owego, N.Y. The family showed Donnelly the tumor-like growth on the baby’s back.
“I brought a photo back. That started the whole ball running pretty much,” Donnelly said as he walked over to the baby’s trailer with a fresh supply of baby formula purchased at a local market. “To be honest, I didn’t think we’d be able to do anything to help her just because of the situation here right now.”
Capt. Keith Compton, a pediatrician with the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, said Noor looked healthy other than her spinal cord defect. So far, he said, there were no signs of fluid buildup in Noor’s brain.
But Compton said Noor most likely would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. The baby did not respond to touch on her legs and feet.
“I wouldn’t say she will be a normal child walking around, but she’ll have a chance at a functional life,” Compton said.
Even though Iraqi doctors were unable to perform the surgery Noor needed, Compton felt confident that medical facilities in the Baghdad area would be able to support Noor after her return from the United States.
“I’m pretty excited about this,” Donnelly said. “I’m doing a job I feel like I was put here to do.”
Staff photographer Curtis Compton (ccompton@ajc.com) contributed to this article.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Betty Canady
December 29, 2005 07:01 AM | Link to this
To all the guys in the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team: May God bless you for this unselfish and loving miracle you are creating for Baby Noor. My prayers and thankfulness remain with you always.
Betty Canady Dacula, Ga
By Kat Orr
December 29, 2005 07:09 AM | Link to this
GREAT JOB, Y’ALL!!! high five We are really proud of you!!!!!!!
By Katie
December 29, 2005 10:34 AM | Link to this
The doctor who agreed to do this surgery for free is Dr. Roger Hudgins, the chief of neurosurgery at Children’s Healthcare. This guy saved my daughter’s life, and now he is doing the same for this little girl. He deserves praise and credit too!
By wondering
December 29, 2005 10:35 AM | Link to this
where is her mother?
By Silvia A.
December 29, 2005 10:36 AM | Link to this
What can I say but Thank youuu! and may the Lord bless each and all of you involved in a way or antoher to help this baby. What you are doing for this baby is an act of LOVE. May the Lord open doors so this baby can come to Atlanta and be given the chance of a better life. God is using you to show the world that his Love conquers anything and you have the Love of God in your hearts. May the Lord keep you safe always.
By Angela from Peachtree City GA
December 29, 2005 10:45 AM | Link to this
Its always a joy to help a child… ANOTHER JOB WELL DONE
By Tracy Fox
December 29, 2005 10:50 AM | Link to this
Thank you to all that are helping little Noor. May God return the blessing upon each of you in your unit with his protection and safety. Thanks for bringing us good news from Iraq. Continously praying for you and your loved ones.
By Katie
December 29, 2005 12:15 PM | Link to this
Wondering,
Due to their culture, the matriarch and the father are the ones who are to go. The mother is part of the picture. But they have cultural things and ligistical limitations that limit who goes and who stays. I can’t immiganie having my kids be taken away to have surgery done and not being able to go thou. That must be so rough on the mom.
By 48th is building a bridge
December 29, 2005 12:34 PM | Link to this
Wondering: Read the first two articles about Noor.
To our 48th: Thank you for your service and God bless each of you. You are building a bridge between the people of Iraq and the people of the US.
Charlie Company - good work and I hope the visa has been issued by now and Noor is on her way to Atlanta. Bless you and bless the airlines, the doctor, the hospital and the organization that oversees this type goodwill. I pray for Baby Nora.
AJC: please keep us informed. It would be a good thing if the national media broadcast this as many times as it does disasters so that this entire country and much of the world can see some good is coming out of our being in Iraq. There have been other acts of kindness and caring that should be spotlighted also. I’m sure kindnesses happen a lot and we know nothing about them. If your people were not imbedded with the 48th we would probably not have heard about this one and the others that were reported in earlier postings.
Happy, safe and prosperous New Year everyone.
By cathy squires
December 29, 2005 01:21 PM | Link to this
Thanks to all the soldiers at camp liberty for taking time out and your compassion for baby noor. Your making a big difference for the people in Iraq. Keep up the good work. I am proud of all of you soldiers, especially my husband Staff Sargent David Squires with Charlie Co. 48th Brigade. come home safe.
By Kathy Jackson
December 29, 2005 04:20 PM | Link to this
May the Lord place a special Blessing on the doctor’s that will be performing this surgery.To the parents that are stepping out on faith with belief this will bring there child back to them in a normal state so she can live her life as other children.Thank you 48th Brigade for finding Noor.Bless you all and come home soon
By Mike
December 29, 2005 04:36 PM | Link to this
God bless everyone involved in this miracle. God bless all in uniform, and the United States of America.
By Tonya
December 29, 2005 04:54 PM | Link to this
I am so proud of my husband, SSG Darryl Clark, as well as everyone else in Co c. these are the things that should make national headlines more often. HOOAH! ~~Tonya, Wife of SSG Darryl Clark pictured with Nora
By Mal
December 29, 2005 04:58 PM | Link to this
I can’t come up with words to describe the joy and pride I have in these soldiers from the Good old G.A.!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Ronda Davis
December 29, 2005 06:31 PM | Link to this
AWESOME job guys!!!! Keep the faith and keep up the good work. Our prayers are with you. God bless you and the USA!!!!
By katrina
December 29, 2005 06:53 PM | Link to this
I am in tears right now!!THank you Thank you Thank you. You fight everyday for us yet you still find the time to be heroes to those over there as well. You all are earth angels. May you come home safe and sound! We love you!
By Gail
December 30, 2005 09:45 AM | Link to this
THANKS TO ALL THE MILITARY FORCES IN IRAQ FOR A JOB WELL DONE. THANKS ESPECIALLY TO ALL THE MEN INVOLVED WITH BABY NORA MAY GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU. GOD BLESS THE USA
By Anne
December 30, 2005 11:19 AM | Link to this
It’s wonderfully heartwarming that those soldiers whose caring and gentle spirits have given a chance of life to a tiny Iraqi baby, while courageously working under dangerous circumstances.
The generous soldiers and doctors involved, US Embassy and Atlantans are definitely heroes and heroines. May God bless you all.
By Lynda
December 30, 2005 03:27 PM | Link to this
I think this a wonderful gift from the United States. No child should be left without having the opportunity for medical treatment, no matter where they are from. I sincerely thank all of our military for the work that they do for us. Be safe, Happy New Year. Keep up the good work. HURRY HOME!!!!!!!!!
By Ida
December 30, 2005 10:49 PM | Link to this
I’m so proud of my brother, Sgt Michael Sonen and all the soldiers of 48th/ Charlie Company! Saving a innocent child’s life is so awesome! God Bless you and all the soldiers everywhere! Be Safe!
By Sid Patel
December 31, 2005 09:41 PM | Link to this
This is a Wonderful New Year gift from USA to People of Iraq less terrorist! While Terrorist are busy destroying life, US soldiers right in their home has proved that we can save a life. It has proved how much helpless and coward terrorist are. I know the job you have done was like keeping a little candle light (Noor) alive in midest of hurricane (rule of terrorist). We are proud you all! God bless America!! Be safe and come home in 2006!
By Rona Rigsby
January 1, 2006 06:29 AM | Link to this
I am SOOOOO PROUD of my brother SSG Darryl Clark.(pictured w Nora) Hes a FINE SOLDIER and a great brother. HOOAH !! Makes ME all teary eyed to see him with this precious baby girl!! All of y’all in Co C are doing a fantastic job. And to ALL of OUR service men and women , GOD BLESS EVERYONE OF YOU !! HOOAH !!! And God BLESS BABY NORA and her family.
By About the troops now
January 1, 2006 09:27 AM | Link to this
Thanks for all the news on Noor. Let us know when she has surgery and how it goes - but this blog is first and foremost for our soldiers of the combined 48th Brigade, so how about a little news about them now. Don’t leave Noor out because we want to know her progress BUT - give us some info on our soldiers. Without them we would not know Noor exists. Let’s get back to business - our troops. Thanks.
By Lorinda
January 3, 2006 09:12 AM | Link to this
This photo of SSG. Darryl Clark holding Baby Noor ought to be the photo of the year. His obvious strength and the strength of his uniform, mixed with such gentleness and caring is a perfect contrast and says it all. I was really moved by it.
By renee' holbert
January 4, 2006 04:48 PM | Link to this
I’M SO PROUD TO BE THE LIL SISTER OF SSG DARRYL CLARK.HE IS LOVED GREATLY BY ALL HIS FREINDS AND FAMILY.I CRYED WHEN I SAW THE PICTURE OF HIM HODLING THE BABY. GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND BE SAFE ,COME HOME SOON. HOOAH!