MANNY RECOVERS

Elisabeth Manuela Banbin Musu, the five-year old girl who was almost killed by the terrorist attack on Australia's Embassy in Jakarta, has recovered and is en route to her new home in Italy.

The Sydney Morning Herald (registration possibly required) reports:

Manny Musu, the five-year-old girl badly wounded in last month's Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta, left a Singapore hospital today in the arms of her Italian stepfather.

They were flying to Italy amid hopes of a full recovery within three to six months.

"She may be able to live like a normal child in a few months," neurosurgeon Ng Puay Yong said, just 13 days after she emerged from a coma.

Elisabeth Manuela Banbin Musu suffered injuries to her brain, abdomen and right side in the September 9 car bomb attack that killed her Indonesian mother and left up to 10 others dead...

Doctors initially gave her only a five per cent chance of living.
They had warned that if she did survive, she might be permanently paralysed on her right side.

However, she has made a spectacular recovery.
Another surgeon, Kenny Ee, said today Manny now had movement in her right arm and leg.

Manny's biological father is Australian and her mother was Balinese Indonesian. Her Australian father has agreed to let Manny live with her Italian stepfather:

Manny now holds Indonesian, Australian and Italian citizenships. She and her mother were at the Australian embassy to pick up her first Australian passport when the deadly bomb exploded.

The competing fathers resolved their custody dispute last week, with Norman agreeing to let Manny live with Musu in Italy, saying it was in her best interests.

Ee and Ng said both "fathers" had had played an important role in Manny's recovery. They were supportive throughout her hospital stay.

"If you see her with her two dads, she's smiling and laughing," Ee said.
Despite her coma and the initial gloomy predictions about her survival chances, Manny's remarkable recovery was not entirely surprising, Ee said.

"We've worked long enough to know that children have an amazing capability of recovery," he said.