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Baby Noor resting before trip to U.S.Cameraman: 'She is doing well considering her illness'
 Baby Noor is scheduled to fly to Georgia on Friday for life-saving surgery. HEALTH LIBRARYHOW TO HELPDonations can be sent to: Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church 4283 Chapel Hill Road Douglasville, Georgia 30135 www.lifeover.org SPECIAL REPORT
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Baby Noor, a 3-month-old Iraqi girl in urgent need of medical attention to treat a potentially fatal birth defect, was resting early Friday at a U.S. base in western Baghdad before being flown to the United States for treatment. Noor was scheduled to be flown out of Iraq on a U.S. military plane around mid-morning Friday to Kuwait and then on to Atlanta on a commercial flight, said CNN cameraman Joe Duran, who is embedded with the U.S. military. She will be accompanied by her father and grandmother, he said. "Baby Noor is now sleeping and restful, before that hopeful, long journey to Kuwait and then on to Atlanta, possibly later today. She is doing well considering her illness," Duran said. Noor is suffering from spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal column fails to completely close. Iraqi doctors told her parents she would live only 45 days. The child captured the hearts of members of the the Georgia National Guard who raided her Baghdad home during a routine "knock-and-search" three weeks ago. (Watch soldiers on a mission -- 2:11) As the young parents of the infant girl nervously watched the soldiers search their modest home, the baby's unflinching grandmother thrust the little girl at the Americans, showing them the purple pouch protruding from her back. "I saw this child as the first-born child of the young mother and father, and really, all I could think of was my five children back at home and my young daughter," Lt. Jeff Morgan said. "And I knew if I had the opportunity whatsoever to save my daughter's life, I would do everything possible." Morgan and his fellow soldiers began working to get little Noor the help she needs. Visits to the family by the Georgia National Guard soldiers were made under the cover of night, so insurgents wouldn't retaliate against them for speaking with American soldiers. The soldiers also brought Noor to a U.S. military base for medical examinations and enlisted the help of friends and charities in the United States to get her the surgery that could save her life. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and his office were among those helping in the effort. "We're very hopeful that within a matter of hours and not days now we're going to see this little girl in Atlanta," Chambliss told CNN on Wednesday. Once Noor arrives in the United States, Dr. Roger Hudgins, the chief of neurosurgery at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, has promised to perform the delicate operation free. The doctor told CNN the surgery needs to take place soon. "We need to get the back closed," Hudgins said. "The concern here is meningitis. If the baby gets an infection on the back, that infection can spread to the coverings all over the brain and the baby may die, so time is of the essence." Spina bifida, often called open spine, is a birth defect that occurs during the first month of pregnancy when the spinal column fails to close completely. It affects the backbone and sometimes the spinal cord itself, often causing permanently disabling defects, particularly neurological damage. It is the most common such birth defect -- known as neural tube defects -- affecting about 1,500 to 2,000 babies born in the United States each year, according to the March of Dimes. Some 70,000 people in the United States are living with spina bifida, according to the Spina Bifida Association. There are three types of spina bifida. Baby Noor has the most severe type, in which the spinal cord's protective covering and the spinal nerves come through the opening in the spine. The neurological damage that can come from this type includes full or partial paralysis, bladder and bowel control difficulties, learning disabilities and depression. Hudgins said that while the surgery will probably help baby Noor, there's no guarantee that it will cure her condition. 
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