IRAQ: With a heart; happy update

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The 2-year-old Iraqi girl brought to the U.S. for treatment through the efforts of Marines underwent three hours of surgery Monday, and doctors are cautiously optimistic that she will have a full recovery, the hospital announced.

Surgeons at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital in Nashville redirected blood from the girl’s heart to her lungs to correct a congenital abnormality. Without the operation, she probably would not have survived another year, a Marine battalion surgeon said.

Marines from the 3rd battalion, 23rd regiment met the girl, named Amenah, while patrolling near her home in Haditha. Shocked at her blueish skin, they arranged for the battalion surgeon to evaluate her.

The Marines, with help from the Jordanian government, the State Department, the Homeland Security Department, and a private fund-raising effort in the U.S., arranged for her to be flown to Nashville and treated at the Vanderbilt Medical Center complex. The medical personnel donated their services.

‘Her heart already looks much better,’ said Dr. Karla Christian, one of the surgeons.

Amenah and her mother will stay in the U.S. for several weeks. Her father, Ala Thabit Fattah, remains in Haditha with the family’s three other children.

— Tony Perry in Al Asad