Ten-year-old cancer patient Fadi Haddad received an unexpected guest Thursday, first lady Laura Bush, who was visiting Jordan to launch a U.S.-funded breast cancer screening center.
'I really loved Mrs. Bush. She was sweet and warm,' said the boy, shortly after the first lady chatted with him in a room full of toys at a Jordanian cancer hospital.
'Wow, I never expected to be visited by someone as important as Mrs. Bush,' added the leukemia patient, who was first diagnosed with cancer seven years ago.
The first lady flew to Jordan from Kuwait on the fourth leg of a regional tour that has also taken her to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
She received a red carpet welcome at Amman's main international airport, and was then whisked away for a closed-door meeting with Jordan's ruler, King Abdullah II.
A royal palace statement said Abdullah lauded Mrs. Bush for her breast cancer campaigning.
Following the talks, Bush launched a breast cancer screening clinic at the King Hussein Cancer Center. The facility was named after Abdullah's father, King Hussein, who died of cancer in 1999.
The hospital includes a children's department, where the first lady met with Haddad and four other children during a lunch break.
'Let play,' she told a Jordanian girl sitting next to her as two Jordanian princesses watched.
Bush announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development will disperse $225,000 for breast cancer screening as part of her campaign to expand the activities of a U.S.-Mideast partnership to fight breast cancer.
Official statistics show that one in seven women in Jordan suffers from breast cancer, which is often detected in its early stages.
On Friday, Bush was scheduled to tour Petra, a city carved in rose-red stone and built by Arab tribesmen, known as the Nabataeans, some 2,000 years ago.
