By Nadine Kalinauskas | Good News
Thanks to compassionate surgeons in Brisbane, Australia, a gunshot victim from Somaliland has a new look — and is looking forward to a new life.
When Ayaan Mohamed was 2 years old, she was permanently disfigured by a gunshot to the cheek during Somalia's civil war.
She was left unable to close her right eye. Food fell from the hole in her cheek when she ate. She couldn't escape the uncomfortable stares and awkward questions.
Taunted and bullied over her looks, Mohamed dropped out of high school and rarely revealed her face from beneath a veil.
"She wears it to cover the deformity. She covers it because people would stare, children would cry,"said Edna Adan Ismail, Somaliland's former foreign minister and first lady. "It's not easy to look at."
Mohamed's mother went to their local hospital several years ago, seeking help. The hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland, however, didn't have the expertise to treat Mohamed. According to CNN, it still doesn't.
Ismail heard Mohamed's story and spent the next 11 years seeking help to repair the young woman's face.
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After finally being granted a medical visa — because her injuries weren't deemed life-threatening, her initial application was denied, as was her visa application to the United States — and thanks to the fundraising efforts of two Australian Rotary clubs, Mohamed, now 25, traveled from Somaliland to Brisbane with Ismail for the life-changing surgery.
"Here's a woman who's only begging to have medical treatment which she's not able to access anywhere else. I'm glad that the decision was reversed," Ismail told CNN.
"She's a brave woman. She's had to live with this a long time... she's very relaxed. I'm the one who's falling apart," Ismail added.
Last Saturday, on their day off, surgeons at the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane rebuilt Mohamed's face in an 11-hour surgery. They did so free of charge.
"Essentially Ayan is missing most of the tissue of her midface from the bottom part of the eye socket, the whole top jaw and most of the cheekbone and her palate," oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. John Arvier, who headed the surgical team, told CNN prior to the surgery.
"The surgery will involve replacing, with a small synthetic implant, the rim of the eye socket. Then the bulk of the missing tissue will be replaced by muscle that comes up under the cheekbone on the side of the head."
He then explained that a plastic surgeon would rebuild her nostril with cartilage from her ear. Extensive dental work would help reshape her smile.
"She's happy and looking forward to it," Ismail said last week, translating for Mohamed. "She's happy to get her face back."
As she heals from her successful surgery, Mohamed is making plans for her new life. She wants to go back to school — and become a doctor.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-news/somaliland-gunshot-victim-gets-face-life-175100373.html
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