PORTLAND – A 5-year-old Iraqi girl departed Thursday following a successful heart operation that will allow her to live a full life.

The surgery to repair holes in her heart a month ago was arranged by a Utah Army National Guard unit that was stationed in Nasiriyah, Iraq.

The heart problem could have cut Noor Abd Al-Hady Hassan’s life short without the operation, which was not available in Iraq. The surgery was performed at Maine Medical Center by Dr. Reed Quinn, a pediatric cardiac surgeon.

Sgt. Ronald Hammond, one of the soldiers who helped arrange for the surgery, came to Maine to bid farewell to Noor and her father, Abdul Al-Hady Hassan Hesab. Hammond and Maj. Joel V. Miller, the unit’s chaplain, started working in August to get Noor to Portland, where doctors treated her free of charge.

Hesab said he thanked God that he found a man with a heart as big as Hammond’s.

“God bless him, God bless his family and the American army and everyone who helped me,” Hesab said Wednesday through an interpreter.

On Wednesday, Hammond, his wife, Susan, and their youngest daughter, Mikell, visited with Noor and her father at the Ronald McDonald House in Portland.