Everything is coming together for Iraqi bomb victim Hannan

Published on Monday 5 May 2008 09:01

WEARING her new green dress and a pair of pretty silver shoes, little Renas claps her hands with joy and giggles as the candles are lit on her birthday cake.

The excited toddler is celebrating her first birthday with her mum Hannan Shihab and members of their close family.

It is a landmark that Hannan can hardly believe has come so soon – that the baby she was holding swaddled tightly in a blanket a year ago is now a very mobile, cheerful and inquisitive chatterbox.

"It just feels like a few months ago that she was born, not a whole year already," says Hannan. "She's just growing up so fast."

Growing up quickly is something with which Hannan is certainly familiar, as her adolescence was shattered when, according to her family, an American bomb landed near her home in Iraq when she was just 15, leaving her with severe burns.

Life now in Dalkeith is so much better than in those final days in her homeland. She was forced to flee the country – her life considered to be in danger – after treatment from US medics.

But the last year has not been without its trials. Her wedding plans have had to be shelved – and with them the honeymoon to Antigua offered by chat show host Sharon Osborne.

She is also facing the prospect of a fifth round of major reconstructive surgery in three-and-a-half years.

But the 20-year-old is determined and upbeat, choosing to concentrate on the future, rather than dwell on the trauma immediately ahead. "I'm going to get more skin grafts on my face which is going to make me look much better," smiles Hannan, who says she never gets upset about the way she looks.

"I've been waiting for the operation since Renas was born and I am happy to go to hospital. I am very excited about it."

It is no small deal that she is mentally brushing aside, as Hannan well knows, having undergone operations to rebuild her ears, nose and lips, under Iraqi-born plastic surgeon Awf Quaba and his colleague Ken Stewart, at St John's Hospital, in Livingston.

She will have to remain in hospital for at least three weeks after the latest surgery. Thankfully, her mum Yusra is on hand to look after Renas.

Even when she is discharged, Hannan, who is planning to go to college after the summer to study tourism and English, believes she will need to rely on her mum to look after her as her body recovers from the extensive skin grafts.

Having her family close by is a great comfort to Hannan. Her mother, father Muaid – who is working as an engineer – brothers Ahmed, 18, and Atheer, 11, and her sister, 16-year-old Zamen, now live in Lasswade.

While house-proud Hannan appreciates the peaceful life she has in the home they moved into just six weeks ago, she misses the bustle of the large house she once shared with her extended family in Baghdad.

"I miss quite a lot of things about Iraq," she says.

"We lived in a nice area, in a huge house with all my family – about 20 people lived there. It's my family I miss most."

She has had to get used to sharing living only with Renas after fiance Saleh Abdulla moved out.

The Kurdish immigrant, 13 years her senior, now lives closer to his farm job.

Speaking these days with a distinct Lothians lilt, Hannan is quietly insistent that the relationship, which grew out of a friendship struck up on the internet, is not over – although there is no wedding on the horizon.

"No we're not living together but that's because he's doing different things," she explains. "We didn't break up but he's busy.

"He's getting up to work on a farm a 5.30am and sometimes he doesn't finish until 8.30pm so we didn't see him that much anyway. He'd only be here to eat and sleep so he might as well live closer to his work."

Saleh presented Renas with a toy piano for her birthday, as well as donating a live chicken to the family pot. That stayed quietly in a box in the corner of Hannan's kitchen in the days before it became the centrepiece of their celebration feast.

In the immediate future, Hannan plans to continue studying for her driving theory test – she believes her life with Renas would be so much easier with a car to get around.

She also plans to treat Renas with a trip to the Commonwealth Pool – the toddler is already proving to be a happy "water baby".

Despite having the comfort of her family nearby, Hannan admits to feeling lonely at times, and she has started welcoming a Home Link befriender into her life.

The voluntary service supports those who may find themselves isolated because they are looking after pre-school children and Hannan says it's a comfort to occasionally have someone to accompany her into town.

For so many reasons, filling her home with friends and family to celebrate Renas' birthday was particularly special this year.

"We have really been looking forward to our wee party, to all the family being around," says Hannan, laughing at Renas in her attempts to grab hold of the soap bubbles her mum is blowing towards her.

"Renas just loves parties – she's just a wee bletherer and just wants to play all the time."

ROAD TO RECOVERY

April 2003

An American bomb knocks an oil lamp on to Hannan's bed at her home in Baghdad, leaving the 15-year-old with third-degree burns over 20 per cent of her body.

May 2003

Hannan leaves her home city to travel to America where specialists in Michigan begin treating her for her injuries.

November 2003

Hannan returns to Iraq. Although she feels better, her treatment is far from complete.

October 2004

She arrives in the Lothians following a campaign by Bonnyrigg woman Katrina Turner to bring her to Scotland, and treated at St John's Hospital in Livingston where her visitors include the then-Livingston MP and former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.

April 2005

Work to reconstruct Hannan's face begins. She is given a new top lip, nostrils and an ear. A painful balloon from Hannan's chest is also removed – a device that allowed doctors to enable loose skin to be stretched over her neck and chin.

November 2005

Hannan, now a student at Stevenson College, is told that her claim for asylum has been successful on humanitarian grounds. It is a further five months before her father Muaid's stay in Scotland is assured.

June 2006

Hannan is reunited with her mother, sister and two brothers after they are granted visas to come to this country. A month later, Hannan gets engaged to Saleh Abdulla.

May 2007

Hannan, who is now living in Dalkeith, is overjoyed when her baby is born weighing 7lb 8oz. She calls her daughter Renas, a Kurdish name meaning "own way".