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DEL.ICIO.USBaby Noor returns home to Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Iraqi baby who was rescued by Georgia soldiers and then melted hearts around the world returned home from Atlanta on Wednesday.
Baby Noor, discovered by soldiers of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team and brought here for life-saving medical care, was delivered to her home in Abu Ghraib by the U.S. Army.
Noor spent six months in Atlanta with two host families while undergoing surgery and follow-up medical treatment.
U.S. military officials took Noor’s grandmother, Soad, to meet the baby in Kuwait and flew them both back to the Baghdad airport.
From there, Noor was escorted in pre-dawn darkness by soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-22 Infantry Battalion in humvees back to eastern Abu Ghraib, the unit’s public affairs officer, 1st Lt. Kristofer Deniger said in a telephone interview from Baghdad.
Deniger said the family was happy to have the baby, now eight months old, back at home.
“It was pretty much a flawless trip,” he said.
Baby Noor was shuttled out of Iraq after soldiers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment went into the family home on a routine search last December.
Soad asked the Gainesville-based Charlie Company infantrymen to help her grandchild, who was born with a severe form of spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal cord does not fully form. Noor had an enormous tumor-like growth on her tiny back.
The U.S. Army arranged for Noor, Soad and Noor’s father, Haider, to travel to Atlanta, where her stay was sponsored by Childspring International, a Christian non-profit that brings sick kids from other nations to Atlanta for treatment.
“This particular humanitarian effort started with a young medic who noticed a child in need and ended with the most powerful nation on the planet, and its citizens, showing compassion and concern and a desire to do the right thing for her,” Lt. Col Kevin Brown, commander of 2-22 Infantry, said in an e-mail Wednesday.
“I’m honored to have served with our brothers from the Georgia Army National Guard, who really got this thing moving,” Brown said. “Saving Baby Noor was as important to us as it was for us to kill and capture terrorists.”
Brown said he would like one day to return to Iraq — when the insurgency has subsided — to check on the progress of Noor.
He said the U.S. Army has conducted over 20 medical assistance missions in Abu Ghraib over the past year and provided pre-natal vitamins to over 1,000 expectant mothers.
“This effort probably helped prevent another few dozen Baby Noors with various birth defects,” he said in his e-mail.
Even as Noor was settling back at home, the Spina Bifida Association paid tribute to Charlie Company soldiers at a conference in downtown Atlanta. Sgt. Nicholas Jelks, a mechanic from Decatur who was the first to see Noor, accepted the Chair’s Excellence Award.
Jelks, who got a standing ovation from the crowd, said he felt honored to receive the award and was happy to learn that Baby Noor was reunited with her family.
“It’s good to know I made a big difference in someone’s life,” he said.
Chairman Douglas Sorocco said the soldiers were honored by the Spina Bifida Association for “reaching out to a child in need in war-torn Iraq” whose case help publicize the birth defect in which the spinal cord does not fully form.
Charlie Company has already received two other humanitarian awards for their efforts to help Noor.
Soad and Haider returned to Iraq in late March to attend to the family they left behind in Abu Ghraib. Noor was not determined well enough to travel then and stayed back with hosts Nancy and Edward Turner.
Nancy Turner boarded a commercial jet for Kuwait on Monday evening with Noor.
Doctors have predicted that Noor will have a chance at a fairly normal life though she may never gain the use of her legs and spend a lifetime in a wheelchair.
Childspring, working through an Iraqi businessman in Atlanta, has lined up a team of doctors in Baghdad who have agreed to see Noor annually. The organization also sent Noor home with a supply of shunts and catheters that might not be easily available in Iraq.
Doctors have said Noor will likely need to see a neurologist, urologist, pediatrician and an orthopedist on a regular basis. A shunt placed in her brain to help drain fluid buildups will likely have to be adjusted as she grows. “We tried to duplicate the medical team she had here,” said Christina Porter, USA director for Childspring. “I am overjoyed that Childspring has been able to what we could do to return Noor to her family.”
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By rid
June 28, 2006 05:05 PM | Link to this
How wonderful. We can look like heros to this Iraqi family while children right her in Atlanta can do without medical care because their parents can’t afford insurance and they make too much for medicaid.
Charity starts at home. Oh yea, it can’t because our goverment is cutting back services so it can spend money improving life for Iraqis who haven’t paid a penny in taxes.
By byron
June 28, 2006 05:17 PM | Link to this
that was all good for them to do that for that child but what about tha children in atlanta that needs health care and the people of atlanta that will not do for them like they did for noor
By katherine
June 28, 2006 05:30 PM | Link to this
I think that Childspring International and the host family should be recognized as a major force in her recovery.
By Dusty
June 28, 2006 05:44 PM | Link to this
Oh, that is such wonderful news. I get more and more proud of our troops every day. And Baby Noor has a chance at better health and Iraq has a chance at freedom from tyranny. It doesn’t get any better than that.
By Debby& Chelsey
June 28, 2006 06:12 PM | Link to this
What a wonderful thing to happen to this little girl . She finally gets to be with her family we sure do hope everything works out for her and her family in iraq. God Bless them all and the 48th for all they have done.Hugs to all
By 'Papa' Ed Lorenz
June 28, 2006 07:38 PM | Link to this
May God continue to bless this precious child; that she may grow into a more peaceful and loving world. The same prayer I offer for my grandchildren. Thank you, Moni, Curtis (sure would like a few more pix of her smiling face) and all the men and women - military, medical, civilian - who pulled together to truly do the right thing for the right reason.
By Caroline
June 28, 2006 07:48 PM | Link to this
God Bless baby Noor and all of the people who saw to her care. This act helps restore faith in human kindness.
By Chris
June 28, 2006 10:37 PM | Link to this
I teach Pre-K in a private Christian school. The children in my class took a special interest in Baby Noor. We kept up with her progress throughout the school year. One of the children in my class has spina bifida. One of his doctors is also Baby Noor’s doctor. Everyday during devotion time the children wanted to pray for two things-Baby Noor and the saftey of our soldiers.May Baby Noor have a blessed life.
By Vicki
June 29, 2006 10:42 AM | Link to this
Any child born in this country with a birth defect as horrendus as that of Noor has the opportunity to get medical help in this nation. All you have to do is get off you duff and search out the agency’s that will give you that aid and not sit back and expect it to be delivered to your door like your welfare check.
By Buddy
June 29, 2006 10:48 AM | Link to this
To “Rid” and “Byron”: What sad people you are. “Rid”, if you know of a family that makes too much for medicaid that doesn’t give adequate care to their children, then you need to report them. To both of you - if you were compassionate people like most Americans, you would not embarrass yourselves with such statements and condemn an innocent child that has nothing to do with anything going on in the world. If I had to guess, one or both of you are the type that regularly “feed at the public trough” and are afraid you arent going to get some of your free ride! My thanks and sincere appreciation for all those involved in helping this child. Makes me even prouder to be an American.
By B.H.
June 29, 2006 11:12 AM | Link to this
Hey Rid - it takes a special sort of person to find a negative aspect to this story. Nobody can make everything perfect for everybody, but everybody should be able to rejoice in what’s been done for this innocent little child. Or I guess I should say, almost everybody.
By Tiffany
June 29, 2006 12:36 PM | Link to this
I agree with the gentleman who said that they should also be worrying about children in Georgia. I have lived around these children and have seen what happens to them
By SBC
June 29, 2006 12:53 PM | Link to this
note to rid: get some compassion. there are avenues to find help for those of us in need here in the u.s. (rich or poor).
note to byron: get an education.—your comments were painful to read for obvious reasons.
By carolyn
June 29, 2006 06:51 PM | Link to this
Thank God for their being good people and careing people,still left in this country,i am so proud of them,i’m so glade for baby Noor to have a chance at life,and her family to have her home now.God will bless them more than they know.
By Jeannie
June 29, 2006 08:42 PM | Link to this
Baby Noor has come a long way.. I am so glad she is now back home with her family and that we could help her in many ways.. I know that she will always remember the American people and the way everyone helped her.. I hope we can hear more on Baby Noor as she grows older.
By Nellie
June 29, 2006 10:58 PM | Link to this
This is a wonderful thing they did. The children are the future of these countries, as well as our own. Just a shame the major media does not tell us more of the good our troops do, and they do a LOT! Pray for them all. And for us as well.
By Syble
July 1, 2006 10:55 AM | Link to this
I am so very happy that baby Noor is so much better and has been returned to her family. It was a wonderful thing for our soldiers to do for a child. It is my hope that she will grow up in a democratic and free country. thanks, Syble