Girl Gets Visa to Help Sick NJ Sister

Federal officials will provide a humanitarian visa so a 5-year-old New Jersey girl can get a life-saving bone marrow transplant from her Salvadoran sister.

The decision announced Friday night by U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez means 7-year-old Gisselle Bonilla Ramirez can come to the United States to donate marrow to her sister, Yarelis Bonilla, an American citizen who is undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia.

She's expected to arrive in the United States sometime within the next 30 days.

Doctors had determined Gisselle was a perfect match after Yarelis's whole family was tested. But the U.S. State Department twice denied a visitor visa that would let Giselle stay up to three months.

The humanitarian visa allows her to travel to New Jersey strictly for the transplant.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)