Search for girl with cancer who walked away from Arizona hospital with mom

(CBS) Police are searching for an 11-year-old Arizona girl suffering from leukemia after her mother walked her out of a Phoenix hospital with the catheter still in the girl's heart, CBS affiliate KPHO reports.

Police Sgt. Steve Martos said the girl, identified only as Emily, was due to be released from Phoenix Children's Hospital on Thursday morning. But for unknown reasons, her 35-year-old mother removed the IV from the catheter, changed her daughter's clothes and walked her out of the hospital Wednesday evening.

Martos said detectives are concerned about the girl's welfare as she is in need of immediate medical care. Doctors said if the catheter is not medically removed, her heart could potentially become infected and result in her death, possibly in a matter of days, KPHO reported.

Emily was brought to the hospital by her parents to receive treatment for leukemia. Her parents are identified only as Luis and Norma, according to The Associated Press.

Martos said the leukemia treatment called for a chest catheter to be place into Emily's heart. She also had to have her arm amputated due to infection.

"It is imperative anyone with information as to the whereabouts of these individuals contact Phoenix police," Martos said. "The primary concern of our detectives is the welfare of the 11-year-old victim."

They left the hospital in a black Ford van, KPHO reported.