Fort Riley soldiers rescue infant in Baghdad, provide medical help
19-month-old suffers from life-threatening tumor
5:58 p.m. Thursday, May 1, 2008
Manhattan — “I just couldn’t believe that there was a child with this disfiguration that was going untreated,“ Fort Riley Staff Sgt. Robert Savant says.
On a routine patrol in Baghdad, soldiers can find anything from weapons to dead bodies. But Savant found something completely unexpected, an infant with a massive tumor on her face.
And with a knock at the door, Savant started the process of speaking to little Miriam’s family and getting her the medical treatment necessary to survive. If he had waited just one week to get that medical process set up, little Miriam, at 19 months-old, would have died.
Cpt. John King, a physician assistant with 1st Brigade, was one of the first to examine Mariam.
“She was obviously malnourished due to the tumor,” King says. "It was impeding on her mouth and on her airway. She was having difficulty breathing and eating.”
Miriam was sent to Jordan for a series of chemotherapy. Spc. Tamer Kazan is an infantryman who has family in Jordan. They have been supporting the infant.
Photo Gallery
Baby Miriam
Miriam and her mother, Rasha, have travelled to Jordan with the help of many who want to see this little girl live a normal, healthy life. Check out these pictures of Miriam, here mom and her new friends.
“She’s a tough little girl but uh, overall, my family’s just been providing a lot of moral support for them,” Kazan says.
Kazan speaks with the family in Arabic regularly. He says one special thing is keeping Miriam happy.
“My aunt got her some chocolate one day and she’s been nibbling on it every day ever since. It’s her thing. She’ll wake up in the middle of the night. She wants chocolate. She eats chocolate and goes back to sleep," Kazan said.
And though the day is uncertain, Kazan says the team at Fort Riley is anxious to see Miriam’s progress once she has her first surgery.
Miriam is not scheduled for surgery on her tumor, but Kazan says she will have that operation here in the United States.
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