OHIO Iraqi baby to be treated for tumor

COLUMBUS (AP) -- An 8-month-old Iraqi baby was expected to arrive in Ohio tonight to receive treatment for a tumor that's restricting her breathing.
Fatemah Hassan was born with a dense group of blood vessels near the skin on her neck. The cluster grew to become a large tumor on her cheek, throat and chest wall, said Mark Ferrell, a spokesman for Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
The baby was blue from lack of oxygen when her parents brought her to a military base last month. The family is part of Iraq's Kurdish ethnic minority.
Lt. Col. Todd Fredricks, an Ohio doctor who practices in Marietta, treated Fatemah that day on the base. He contacted U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, and Dr. Gayle Gordillo, director of the program for malformed blood vessels at Children's Hospital in Columbus.
Gordillo presented the case last month to Children's Hospital's International Patient Committee, which decided Fatemah could be treated at no cost if she could get to Columbus.
Fatemah and her 21-year-old mother left Germany this morning, headed for Rickenbacker Airport in Columbus.
Strickland and Rockefeller worked with immigration officials to obtain visas for the mother and daughter.