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Saturday, December 31, 2005
Celebrity welcome for Baby Noor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
W.A. Bridges Jr./AJC
Baby Noor and grandmother get plenty of media attention Saturday. • MORE PHOTOS
“Baby from Iraq.”
“Iraqi baby.”
“Sick baby from Iraq.”
The news photographer had staked out a front-row spot in the line of media awaiting Baby Noor at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Saturday afternoon. Now she bore the brunt of the public’s questions.
Who’s coming? asked the travelers, looking warily into the lenses of seven TV cameras before continuing toward baggage claim. A few smiled nervously or reached up to fix their hair.
But the cameramen weren’t there for holiday airport atmosphere. They wanted the money shot: Baby Noor’s grand entrance into the United States, with her father and grandmother.
Soldiers with a Georgia-based unit discovered Noor during a raid in Abu Ghraib and helped arrange her flight to Atlanta, where she will receive treatment for spina bifida. A doctor at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta agreed to perform surgery for free. Her story is now national news.
“What’s all the commotion?” asked Carlos Cuesta, 32, who was about to board a flight home to Miami.
A reporter explained Noor’s plight. Cuesta’s friend Douglas Longhini said he’d heard about the baby.
“We’re disabled, so that’s dear to our hearts,” Cuesta said, adding that he and Longhini have cerebral palsy.
Not all were as enthusiastic.
A man named Mohammad, who declined to give his last name, said the uproar over Noor didn’t make sense.
“People get killed over there every day,” he said. “What’s the big deal about a 3-month-old baby?”
About 3:30 p.m., word came that Noor had landed. More waiting followed as the family wound through customs and immigration.
The eager crowd included members of the church that one of the National Guardsmen who found Noor, Lt. Jeff Morgan, belongs to. Morgan asked the church for help in coordinating Noor’s journey.
“For us to see it culminate fully is a really wonderful thing,” said Adam Roberts, pastor of Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church in Douglasville. “We feel very attached to baby Noor.”
Shortly after 4 p.m., the waiting ended.
“They’re coming,” said an airport spokeswoman.
Applause broke out. The entourage approached.
The family hosting Noor, her grandmother and father greeted them with roses. They peered into the eyes of the baby who had brought together strangers from across the ocean.
Orbiting Noor like crazed satellites, cameramen and reporters moved with the group toward the door.
The baby, dressed in an orange sweatsuit, picked her head up from her grandmother’s shoulder. She watched the microphone boom floating above her.
Open-mouthed and alert, she looked curious, then bewildered, then borderline fussy. But she didn’t cry.
Her grandmother, wearing a black robe, lifted her into an ambulance waiting to take her to the hospital for evaluation. At 4:25, it pulled from the curb.
News of Noor’s progress will come largely from the hospital, spokesman Kevin McClellan told the media before the plane landed. The baby’s family will decide how much information is released.
Updates could be as meager as “good, fair, serious or critical.”
The host family has asked to remain anonymous, McClellan said.
“Please respect their privacy,” he told reporters.
Noor arrives in Atlanta for crucial surgery
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Curtis Compton/AJC
Delta Air Lines attendant Mary Frances Shine gets a smile from Noor during Saturday's flight. • MORE PHOTOS
The ailing infant who captured the hearts of Georgia National Guardsmen in Iraq arrived in Atlanta Saturday after flying thousands of miles, moving a huge step closer to life-changing medical help.
Cradled by her grandmother, 3-month-old Noor al-Zahra rode up an escalator at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport with her father just after 4 p.m. As bystanders applauded, they strode past television cameras and met a metro Atlanta family that has agreed to house them several weeks, while doctors at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta treat the infant for free.
An ambulance took Noor to Children’s Healthcare for an assessment by Dr. Roger Hudgins, the hospital’s chief of neurosurgery.
“Chances for her survival are good,” he said.
Soldiers from a 48th Brigade Combat Team unit based in Gainesville discovered Noor on a raid several weeks ago. She suffers from a severe form of spina bifida, an ailment in which the spine does not fully form. Iraqi doctors lack the proper equipment to treat the baby. They gave her 45 days to live and sent her home.
First Lt. Jeff Morgan of Douglasville, a single father of five, set out to arrange medical care for Baby Noor in the United States. He and Debbie Stone, a friend and social worker in Douglas County, eventually enlisted Sen. Saxby Chambliss in an effort made possible by the generosity of Children’s Healthcare and a Christian nonprofit in Atlanta, Childspring International, that arranged medical treatment for 83 children from 15 countries last year.
Hudgins and his colleagues completed their examination of Baby Noor by about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The hospital said in a statement that she “is in good condition, is responsive and smiling and seemingly resting comfortably.”
Noor was to stay overnight at Children’s Healthcare, where more doctors planned more tests before determining her treatment. The initial plan called for her to stay with the Atlanta host family until doctors scheduled an operation, with at least one surgery possible in the next few days.
“Obviously good works happen every day in Iraq and good works happen with the soldiers. We hear all the negative. It’s about time, I think, that we have the opportunity to hear some of the good,” Hudgins said. “It’s showing the tender side of the military. These are good guys. They went out of their way to make this happen.”
The doctor said he plans to perform at least one surgery, to close a portion of the baby’s back where the spine has protruded. He said he also plans to scan her brain for evidence of fluid build-up, common in spina bifida cases. If he finds fluid, he said, a second surgery is likely to drain it. Though he said he hopes for the best, the doctor said it was too soon to know whether the baby might suffer paralysis or brain damage.
“We want to make this child developmentally and cognitively as normal as possible,” he said.
That she is being evaluated in a top-flight hospital in the United States represents a remarkable change of fortune for Baby Noor, nicknamed “Baby Nora” by soldiers in Iraq. She had seemed destined to die until Morgan and his colleagues in the 48th Brigade Combat Team intervened.
Stone, the Douglas County social worker, rallied members of her Shepherd Of the Hills United Methodist Church to the cause. They raised $10, 000 for the baby and chipped in baby clothes and a crib. Stone also worked her network of church friends to find out about Childspring International, the Christian nonprofit in Atlanta that agreed to match the baby with a metro Atlanta host family.
“One person can make a difference,” Stone said Saturday afternoon, after introducing herself to the baby’s grandmother amid a crush of news reporters. “I made a promise to Jeff and the men that he’s fighting with and I’m a woman of my word. The baby is here and she’s in good hands.”
Staff writers Moni Basu, Curtis Compton and Heather Vogell contributed to this article
Baby Noor arrives in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Bazemore/AP
Baby Noor clings to her grandmother as they arrive in Atlanta Saturday. • MORE PHOTOS
Baby Noor, the little Iraqi girl born with a severe spinal cord defect , arrived in Atlanta Saturday afternoon and moved a big step toward the medical care she needs to survive.
The baby’s grandmother cradled Noor in her arms as she stepped off an escalator and walked in the terminal of Hartsfield-Jackson International about 4:10 p.m.
The grandmother and Noor’s father walked past a bank of television cameras and met a metro Atlanta family that has agreed to house them for up to several months. The host family, who asked not to be named, gave the baby’s grandmother a fruit basket.
The father climbed into an SUV that quickly sped away. The grandmother accompanied the baby in an ambulance bound for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where doctors planned an examination Saturday. Surgery could come within the next week or so.
The doctor who will perform surgery on Baby Noor — born with spina bifida — praised American troops, members of the 48th Brigade BCT, who found her.
“These are good guys and they went out of their way to make this happen,” said Dr. Roger Hudgins of Children’s Healthcare shortly before the plane arrived Saturday.
Members of the Gainesville-based Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment found the baby during a search of the family home in the slums of Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad.
“It’s an honor for us to be able to do this [surgery],” Hudgins told a gaggle of reporters and seven TV news cameramen at the airport.
Earlier Saturday, high above the clouds, Delta Air Lines Captain David Damare had something to tell the passengers on Flight 15 from Frankfurt to Atlanta.
All of Delta’s customers were special, he said. But Saturday there was a particularly special person on board. Her name was Noor al-Zahra.
She was three months old and traveling from her native Iraq all the way to Atlanta to receive surgery to correct a life-threatening problem in her spinal cord.
Noor left Baghdad on Friday with her father, Haider, and grandmother, Soad, for the long journey to America.
Cradled in Haider’s arms, Noor took off into clear blue skies in a C-130 military transport plane from Baghdad’s airport after soldiers of Gainesville-based Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment bade her farewell at their headquarters at Camp Liberty.
“We are very excited about this trip,” said Soad. “We are thankful to the people of Georgia.”
However, once the reached Kuwait, they discovered that the KLM flight that was to take them to Amsterdam was canceled. U.S. Embassy officials rerouted the family on a Lufthansa flight through Frankfurt but because they are Iraqi citizens, they needed transit visas for Germany.
Early Saturday morning, U.S. officials were able to contact the German Embassy in Washington to issue clearance for the family to land in Frankfurt. In Frankfurt, the three boarded Delta Flight 15.
The family was put in business class. Noor was given a bassinette in which to sleep. Flight attendant Suzanne King gave Noor a teddy bear.
Born three months ago with Spina Bifida, Noor has a large growth on her back where her spinal cord did not properly close. She requires immediate surgery to correct the problem.
Iraqi doctors told the family they could do nothing for the baby and that she did not have long to survive. Charlie Company soldiers found the baby during a search of the family home in the slums of Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad.
They were determined to help save the life of the frail child.
“Just knowing she’s going to get a chance in life she will never get here gives you a warm feeling,” said Staff Sgt. David Squires, who works for a hearing aid company in Gainesville. “The children of Iraq are the country’s future.”
Noor doctor praises Army unit who found her
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta doctor who will perform surgery on Baby Noor — born with a severe spinal cord defect — praised American troops who found her.
“These are good guys and they went out of their way to make this happen,” said Dr. Roger Hudgins of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta shortly before the plane carrying the Iraqi infant arrived Saturday.
Members of the Gainesville-based Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment found the baby during a search of the family home in the slums of Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad.
“It’s an honor for us to be able to do this,” Hudgins told a gaggle of reporters and seven TV news cameramen at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Noor, whose name means light in Arabic, was born with a severe form of spina bifida.
She was flown out of Baghdad Friday to Kuwait, then on to Frankfurt, Germany. She took a Delta commercial flight to Atlanta Saturday.
Noor will die if she does not receive surgery soon, doctors say. Hudgins will perform the expensive operation for free.
Noor will spend the next 24 hours being evaluated at the hospital. If spinal fluid is found to be leaking she will have immediate surgery. Otherwise the first surgery will come in a few days.
Child’s smile melts hearts, renews hope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Baghdad, Iraq — Journalists are not supposed to become part of the story they are reporting. All week long, I kept telling myself that I had to keep my distance.
It wasn’t easy.
The subject of my stories was a beautiful 3-month-old baby who represented all that is good in the midst of an ugly war that randomly snuffs out innocent lives almost every day.
Noor al-Zahra, born with a severe spinal cord defect, could not understand why Iraqi doctors lacked the resources to make her well. She didn’t understand the incredible risks her family and American soldiers had taken so that she might have a new chance at life.
But Noor could flash a smile that melted hearts.
She could fix her gaze on mine and take me away from the evil that lurked outside — the rocket attacks, improvised explosive devices, car bombs and gunfire.
She took me away from the shocking living conditions of her neighbors; away from the children with no shoes playing in mountains of trash and streams of sewage that snake through eastern Abu Ghraib.
When Noor’s grandmother Soad handed me the tiny child, I held her in my arms.
“She is hungry,” said Soad. “Can you please hold the bottle? She likes you. See, she is smiling.”
Soad needed to use the restroom. She needed someone to watch the baby. Noor’s father was in Baghdad obtaining necessary paperwork for the family to travel to Atlanta.
There were no other women around. The Georgia Army National Guard unit that discovered Noor is an infantry unit and has no women assigned to it. It can be tough to take care of a fragile baby on a military base designed to house rough-and-tough soldiers.
Soad asked me for help. I could not refuse. To do so would be to betray all compassion.
Over the three days that Noor and her guardians spent at Camp Liberty, I helped change diapers, mix formula, burp the baby and keep watch over her while her grandmother took breaks.
Soad and I exchanged long conversations through an Army interpreter.
She pulled out a small photo album from her bag and showed me pictures of her six daughters and three sons, a trip to Iran and family gatherings at her home.
She peppered me with questions about Atlanta. She was nervous traveling such a long distance. She had never even been on a plane before. She was nervous about Noor’s pending surgery. How long would she have to be gone from home? She asked if I would go back with her.
I explained to her that Atlanta Journal-Constitution photographer Curtis Compton would be making the long journey with her, Noor and Haider. He would be documenting their trip. I told Soad she should not worry.
All the while, Noor lay on my lap, gurgling like babies do. Occasionally she would raise her arms and grab my hair, though she never kicked her legs. The military doctors who examined her here said she would probably end up with paralysis in both legs.
Noor’s spinal cord was not fully closed when she was born on Sept. 23. A pinkish cyst-like growth consumes her little back in place of a normal spine. Doctors in Iraq gave her no hope for survival.
Her family, like so many others in poor nations, accepted Noor’s condition as the will of God. The young, helpless parents, Iman, 18, and Haider, 23, could do nothing for her.
That was until soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment’s Charlie Company stormed into their home on a December night. The troops were searching the area for suspected insurgents.
Instead, they found Noor.
The Gainesville-based soldiers wanted to do something good here. If they could help save the life of just one Iraqi child, their entire deployment in the war zone would be worth it, many of them told me.
There are days, the soldiers said, when they come back to their trailers wondering what they are doing so far from home, separated from their own children. There are days when they question why their fellow soldiers are dying.
After seven months of grinding urban warfare, Charlie Company soldiers had found a child who reinvigorated their purpose here.
Getting Noor to the United States for treatment was a mission that would help them sleep well — at least for a night.
Someone here at Camp Liberty asked me why the U.S. media were making such a big deal out of one baby. There are, after all, thousands of other Noors in Iraq who desperately need assistance. Their stories may never get told.
Perhaps Noor’s story did, not just for the sake of the child, but for all the other lives she has touched in the most profound of ways.
Noor, whose name means “light” in Arabic, stole our hearts and, even if for just a moment, took away the darkness in our lives.
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