|
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq (March 20, 2008) - An Iraqi
girl and her family, as well as soldiers here, are anxiously
awaiting a decision from an organization in Los Angeles that will
determine the fate of her eyesight.
Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division's Company D, 1st
Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team,
escorted 5-year-old Noor to the 86th Combat Support Hospital in
Baghdad on March 14 so an optometrist could evaluate her eyes.
The medical evaluation will give doctors almost 8,000 miles away
the information they need to determine whether they'll perform
corneal transplant surgery that might save the girl's sight.
The initial diagnosis by Lt. Col. (Dr.) Hee-Choon Lee, battalion
surgeon for the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 30th
Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, found that Noor is
blind due to a birth defect that resulted in poorly developed
corneas in both of her eyes. Her 32-year-old uncle Mustafa also
suffers from the same defect.
Doctors from the Eye Defects Research Foundation, a
nongovernmental organization in Los Angeles, are evaluating the
information from Noor's medical appointment and will decide whether
she is a viable candidate for surgery and, if she is, where the
surgery would take place.
Lee said if representatives from the foundation can find other
patients to operate on in Iraq, then a trip could be organized. If
not, then coalition forces would work to have the girl and her
family taken to Los Angeles for the surgery.
Noor's uncle also is being evaluated as a candidate for surgery,
but his case requires more caution because he is an adult, and his
eyes might not heal as easily as those of his young niece, Lee
said.
"I think Noor's left eye has a lot of hope," the doctor said.
"Her right eye may not be a good candidate, because it is too
small. All the (ultrasound) pictures were sent up, and we're
waiting."
But even if she gets the surgery, Lee cautioned, it's quite
possible Noor's sight can't be saved. An Emory University study of
corneal transplant success in pediatric patients showed the success
rate in the best of circumstances was only 50 percent.
"We are all working toward getting this young girl the gift of
sight," Lee said.
|
