'miracle' Manny Has Fun With Her Dads

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 1, 2006

EAMONN DUFF

MANNY Musu, who survived the Australian embassy bomb blast, has arrived in Australia for the first time after a life-saving brain operation.

As the brave-hearted youngster recovered with a splash in the surf, she was being supervised by two fathers who have formed the unlikeliest of friendships after falling in love with the same woman.

Manny Musu, 6, became the face of the Jakarta Australian embassy bomb blast in 2004 after a graphic image showed her bloodstained body being rescued from the rubble. Her mother, Maria Eva Kumalawati, was one of nine killed in the explosion.

As the extent of Manny's injuries became clear, a dramatic story of lies and deception unfolded, with two men from opposite sides of the world arriving at her bedside in Singapore claiming to be her father.

One was Italian security officer Manuel Musu, the other NSW police officer Dave Norman.

It later emerged that Mr Norman was the biological father but Mr Musu had raised Manny in Verona, Italy, convinced she was his. Doctors pulled both men aside and warned that Manny would not survive 24 hours. But hailed as a miracle by surgeons, the young battler somehow pulled through.

In turn, her extraordinary recovery has brought the best out of two men who came within a whisker of a hospital fist fight.

Yesterday, Mr Musu and Mr Norman were both enjoying the thrills of fatherhood as Manny recuperated from a second life-saving operation on December 7 that nearly left both men heartbroken.

Mr Musu, who looks after Manny in Italy, said: "She was without part of her skull on one side, so a resin plate had to be implanted. The doctors warned me there was a high risk, that because the operation involved her brain, it was possible we might lose her.

"The operation was supposed to take two hours, but when they opened up her head, there were complications."

Mr Norman said he sat glued to the phone for news.

"The procedure lasted six hours," he said. "It was like reliving the operation in Singapore all over again. She pulled through, and when the doctors again described her recovery as a miracle, you kind of think well, that's twice now . . . the girl is destined to live."

Manny still has a coin-sized lump of shrapnel embedded in her skull, which doctors dare not touch, along with 30 smaller pieces littered throughout her fragile frame.

While the extent of brain damage is yet to be determined, Mr Musu insists he has seen nothing to indicate problems, adding proudly: "She can count to 10 in Italian, English and Indonesian."

Mr Norman said the best present ever was when Mr Musu revealed both he and Manny would fly to Sydney to be with him for Christmas.

They have since shared a harbour cruise, a trip to Sydney Aquarium and, as Manny quickly reminds both dads, "feeding ducks" in Sydney's Centennial Park.

Mr Norman and Mrs Kumalawati shared a brief romance in 1999, resulting in the birth of Manny.

But Mr Musu was in a relationship with Mrs Kumalawati in Italy, and was told Manny was his. Later in 2004, Mr Norman shared another holiday with his former lover and Manny in Bali. This time around, Mr Norman was convinced it was forever. But fate had yet to play its final card.

As Manny and her mother were collecting their Australian passports for a new life in Sydney, the bomb exploded.

Mr Norman said: "Manuel and I were shocked, initially angry, when we learned the truth. But all that mattered then and now is Manny.

"We've decided that when she's older, we will tell her everything. Until then, she'll receive all the love that two fathers could ever possibly provide."

© 2006 The Sunday Age

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