From the Gainsville Times:
"...Baby Noor is expected in Atlanta today.
Noor al-Zahra, an Iraqi infant with spina bifida whose cause has been taken up by the Gainesville-based Georgia National Guardsmen who found her, left Baghdad on Friday aboard a flight to get her life-saving medical care in the United States. ...
At Regions Bank on Thompson Bridge Road, cashier Brandy Hawkins was talking about how excited her husband was that Baby Noor was on her way to Atlanta.
Sgt. Terry Hawkins, who is the father of four, is a deputy in Forsyth County when he's not on duty with the National Guard.
The infant was scheduled to fly to Kuwait, then board a commercial flight to Atlanta. A news conference was scheduled for this afternoon at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to welcome her to the United States. ...
Charlie Company deployed to Iraq last spring with the 48th Brigade and since has been attached to the 10th Mountain Division, helping patrol an area west of Baghdad.
There, in a poverty-stricken town, troops discovered the baby three weeks ago during a raid on a house. The soldiers noticed paralysis in her legs and what appeared to be a tumor on her back, said Debbie Stone, a Douglasville social worker.
Stone received an e-mail about it from her friend, Charlie Company Lt. Jeff Morgan, who asked her to see if she could arrange for some medical assistance. ...
The child has myelomeningocele spina bifida, which is considered the most severe form, Hudgins said. It's not clear how much physicians will be able to do to restore her health or ability to walk, he added.
But Baby Noor was given slim chances of survival by her doctors in Iraq, noted Adam Roberts, pastor of Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church in Douglasville, the church to which Stone and Morgan belong.
Cathy Squires said the effort has been uplifting for Charlie Company, and for her and husband.
"This was David's and my Christmas present for each other," she said.
Cathy and David, part owner with his father in a Gainesville hearing aid company, married two weeks before the combat unit left for Iraq in May.
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