Turkish doctors remove big tumor from Iraqi infant

A five-month-old Iraqi infant has recovered in Istanbul after she underwent an operation conducted by Turkish doctors to remove tumor from her brain.

"She had swelling on her head in the beginning. She was diagnosed with brain tumor in Iraq and she was not offered any treatment option," said Mays Walled, mother of baby girl Haya, in a statement issued by Medicana Çamlıca Hospital.

"When I heard that my baby had a brain tumor, my life stopped," 21-year-old Walled said, adding that the swelling in her daughter's head occurred soon after she was born.

She said that friends of her husband Ahmed Mithat, 38, in Turkey helped them to come to Istanbul.

"I'm so happy now. I'm grateful to Turkish doctors," she added.

Haya was treated in Medicana Çamlıca Hospital by Turkish doctors, who removed a kidney-sized tumor from her head in a seven-hour-long operation.

Yılmaz Kılıç , the doctor who performed Haya's operation, said: "The baby had a very big tumor, which is eight-centimeter big, with a diameter of five centimeters, that is very rare for her age group.

"When she was brought to us, diameter of her head was 46 centimeters."

Kılıç noted that first tumor he saw of that size, and added that the surgery was "very successful".

"We removed the tumor completely with a seven-hour microsurgery," he said, adding that the baby girl would continue a normal life now.