AFGHANISTAN: U.S. doctors operate to save boy

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A boy suffering from a ghastly-looking, painful and malignant tumor protruding from his left eye socket has undergone surgery at the U.S. military hospital at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

A team led by Air Force Maj. Brian Moore, a surgical oncologist, removed the lemon-sized tumor and performed facial reconstruction last week on Hamid Ahmad. The boy, 5 or 6 years old, lives with his parents, six brothers and two sisters on a farm in Farah province.

Sensing that their son might soon die, his parents had appealed to the U.S. Special Operations Forces in Farah for help. After evaluation, Hamid and his father were flown to Bagram.

In six to eight weeks the boy will be fitted for a prosthetic eye. He also may need chemotherapy or radiation, probably at a hospital in Pakistan, U.S. officials said.

The surgery done by the U.S. team required medical specialties not generally available in Afghanistan. ‘We were able to lend a hand when nobody else could,’ Moore said.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego