Correction appended

A 4-month-old Iranian girl in need of heart surgery has been unable to travel to Oregon for the procedure due to the immigration ban put in place by President Donald Trump last week barring immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, her uncle said.

The infant, whose name is Fatemah, was diagnosed with a heart condition and told she needed surgery. Doctors in Iran did not have the equipment needed for the procedure, so her parents turned to Oregon Health & Science University, one of the top hospitals in the country for pediatric heart surgery, her uncle, Samad Taghizadeh, told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

"They said she has a very serious problem, that this is an emergency and we need to do the surgery right now," he said.

Fox 12 first reported the story.

Taghizadeh lives in Portland with Fatemah's grandparents, all three of whom are U.S. citizens, and he helped translate all the necessary paperwork as the family prepared to apply for a tourist visa.

Fatemah's parents were hoping to meet with doctors in Portland on Feb. 5 and the family was set to begin their journey to the U.S. on Saturday. The family planned to fly from Tehran to Dubai where they would apply for the visa. But they learned that they would be unable to make the trip after travel from Iran was barred by Trump's executive order just the day before.

Their appointment at the U.S Embassy in Dubai was canceled, Taghizadeh learned in an email, and the family was forced to cancel the trip

"I got the email and everything was canceled," Taghizadeh said. "I was in shock."

He was told to reapply for a visa in 90 days when the executive order expires, but he said he's not sure Fatemah has that long.

Since Fatemah's case was first reported, Sen. Jeff Merkley has taken interest and assigned a case worker from his office to work as a facilitator between the family and immigration lawyers. A spokeswoman for his office said the senator is hoping to use whatever leverage he has to help.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said OHSU could not comment on specific cases due to patient privacy rules, but said the institution "is open to all, regardless of immigration status."

The situation was been particularly hard on Fatemah's grandfather, who suffers from health problems of his own, which have been exacerbated by the stress of the travel restrictions.

"My father was so excited to see his granddaughter for the first time," Taghizadeh said. "Our whole family is in a depression."

Fatemah Reshad 4 Gallery: Fatemah Reshad

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that the family had not yet received a visa, but flew to Dubai to apply for one.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048