(CNN) - A Nigerian immigrant's
dream came true when President
Barack Obama signed into law a
rare private bill granting him
permanent residency in the Unites
States.

Victor Chukwueke, who lives in
Michigan on an expired visa, came
to the United States 11 years ago to
undergo treatment for massive
face tumors.

He graduated from a university in
the state, and plans to attend an
Ohio medical school that requires
him to have permanent residency,
also known as a green card.
In a rare act, the United States
Congress passed a private bill this
month granting him permanent
residency. Obama signed the bill
Friday.

Private bills -- which only apply to
one person and mostly focus on
immigration -- are rarely approved.
His is the only one to pass in
Congress in two years.
"I was overwhelmed with joy; it was
nothing less than a miracle," the
26-year-old says. "Only in this
country can so many miraculous
and wonderful things happen to
someone like me."

Before coming to the United States
at age 15, Chukwueke lived in the
southeastern Nigeria town of Ovim.
He suffers from neurofibromatosis,
a genetic disorder that causes
massive life-threatening tumors on
his face.

Treated as an outcast because of
his deformed face, he was
depressed and humiliated, he says.
His family abandoned him at an
orphanage after taking him to the
nation's best facilities for
treatment.
"I went to a large teaching hospital
in Nigeria and the doctor touched
my face and said there was nothing
they could do," he says. " I cried
and begged him to do something. I
was so tired of the humiliation."

Continue reading...
www.cnn.com/2012/12/29/world/africa/us-nigerian-obama-law/index.html?c=us

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