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Ailing Iraqi girl one step closer to operation

Jun-20-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes

Rhma Taha Ahmed might not have to have her hands and feet amputated after all. And she just might live to a ripe old age.

The 5-year-old Iraqi girl, who suffers from a congenital heart defect, tapped a soft spot earlier this year in some soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment in Mosul.

After an article about the little girl appeared in Stars and Stripes in May, her plight touched off a hailstorm of e-mails across continents which, in less than a month, has prompted a doctor and hospital to perform the surgery and a nonprofit organization to pay all expenses.

The sole sticking point to getting her care in the United States is acquiring non-immigrant visas for the child and her parents, and military personnel are working through official channels to get those.

Once approved, the plan is to bring Rhma to Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, N.M., where Dr. Carl Lagerstrom has agreed to perform the surgery, said Pam English, a hospital employee, who is the mother of one of the 1-24 soldiers. [...]

“These congenital heart problems are all too common in Iraq,” said Dr. (Maj.) Dave Brown, the battalion’s surgeon. Brown was instrumental in the making connections to get Rhma the needed help to save her hands, feet and possibly her life.

But her plight is special to the soldiers of “Deuce Four.”

It was during a late-night raid into the Isla Zeral neighborhood of Mosul on May 20 in which Pfc. Matthew Nolan and Spc. Matthew English first came across the pale little girl.

“This came about because two young soldiers came into a house one night and saw someone less fortunate and in need,” said Capt. Paul Carron, Company C commander. “If soldiers have one consistent trait it is problem solving, they see a wrong and they make it right. We all want to see this made right,” said in an e-mail to Stripes. [...]


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