Malala's father says thank you (From Asian Image)

Malala's father says thank you

2:18pm Friday 26th October 2012 in United Kingdom news

The father of shot teenager Malala Yousufzai thanked hospital staff and members of the public today for their help and support for his daughter.

Ziauddin Yousufzai said the decision for his daughter to be flown to the UK and treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham had been a "miracle" for him and his family.

Speaking to media at a briefing at the hospital this morning, Mr Yousufzai's voice shook as he said: "The very day I saw my daughter, and the next day when she was operated, her whole body was swollen and she was in very bad condition."

Mr Yousufzai, who was accompanied by Malala's 12-year-old brother Khushal Khan, said he was advised that he should make arrangements for her funeral.

She was flown to the UK for treatment at the specialist hospital after she was shot and wounded by a Taliban gunman on October 9.

The teenager's family flew to the UK yesterday.

Mr Yousufzai said his wife, Toorpekai Yousufzai, was too camera- shy to attend today's briefing, while Malala's youngest brother, eight-year-old Atal Khan, was too tired.

Speaking about seeing Malala last night, he said: "I love her. Last night when we met her there were tears in our eyes out of happiness. For some time we all cried a bit."

He said she had also asked her father on the phone to bring her schoolbooks so she could study for her exams.

Dr David Rosser, who is treating the teenager, said Malala was continuing to make very good progress clinically.

He said she was walking with very little help, eating well and talking. He said both her short and long term memory seemed to be fine.

Malala was travelling home from school with two classmates in north-west Pakistan when she was shot, believed to be at point-blank range, and the bullet which hit her just above the back of her left eye came within inches of killing her.

It travelled down through the side of her jaw, damaging her skull and jaw joint on the left hand side, and went through her neck and lodged in the tissues above her shoulder blade.

Today Dr Rosser said: "We're very much in a phase of her care that is about her recovery, both physical and psychological. "

"She's very tired but she managed a big smile for her mum and dad and her brothers."

He said she would have reconstructive surgery on her skull when she was strong enough, which he said could be "within weeks".

When asked about her long term recovery, Dr Rosser said: "She's likely to make a full recovery."