I’m thoroughly amazed at how bright and alert she is.

She will definitely need to be in a wheelchair.

The back actually looks very, very good. She’s doing everything that a well-loved 4-month-old baby should be doing. You pick her up and hold her and the smile comes out.

We need to get the back closed. 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...

Our best scenario is that she will be a paraplegic.

She’s as personable as any 3-month-old I’ve ever seen. She’ll grab your finger. She coos and does all the right things.

If she gets good care when she returns to Iraq, she should live a long and full life.

The longer we go without putting a shunt in, the less likely she’ll need one. We’re cautiously optimistic.

Obviously, good works happen in Iraq every day. And good works happen with the soldiers. We hear all of the negative. It’s about time we had the opportunity to hear some of the good.

She just radiates good feeling. We’re getting to the point where we love this child.

Quality of life is very important, but if we don’t get rid of this defect, it will eventually take her life as well.