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Surgery on the bullet-damaged skull of an Iraqi girl appears successful, opening the door to her return home.

By MEREDITH GOAD, Staff Writer December 28, 2008

In the days before doctors were scheduled to repair her shattered skull earlier this month, Noora Afif Abdulhameed occasionally talked about what was going to happen to her. The words would tumble out all at once, in one sentence, in between the games and laughs that blocked out the fear.

"I think surgery Friday," the 7-year-old Iraqi girl would say to her friend Susi Eggenberger, an Arundel resident who has been like a mother to her during her stay in Maine.

"Tomorrow surgery."

"It's been on her mind a lot," Eggenberger said the day before the surgery. "Needing a few more hugs today."

As scary as the prospect of brain surgery was to Noora and her father, Afif Abdulhameed Otaiwi, it was what they had been waiting for since being flown to Portland five months ago by No More Victims, a nonprofit group that brings war-injured Iraqi children to the United States for treatment.

On Dec. 11, doctors were just 24 hours away from repairing the damage inflicted by an American sniper's bullet two years ago in Noora's hometown of Heet. The bullet made a large hole in Noora's skull and destroyed her cerebral membrane. In several operations in Iraq, doctors removed pieces of bone and covered the gaping wound with skin from Noora's thigh to temporarily protect her brain.

But to be whole again, Noora needed replacement "bone" attached to her skull, a prosthetic that would be with her the rest of her life.

In the 154 days since they arrived in Portland for the operation, Noora and her father have been on a summer boat ride on the Atlantic Ocean, celebrated Noora's seventh birthday, gone trick-or-treating, experienced the election of an American president, shared a traditional Thanksgiving with their friends, had their first snowball fight.

She has also been through frightening and painful medical procedures, and she and her father missed the birth of Noora's little sister. Looming over it all was the prospect of a surgical procedure that had the potential to finally heal her, but carried substantial risk as well.

It's been a long wait.

RECORDING GOOD TIMES IN MAINE

It's Thursday, Sept. 25. Noora lights up when she walks into the common area at the Ronald McDonald House and sees her adult friend Nancy Gee, who is helping her make a scrapbook documenting her stay in America.

Noora is wearing brown slacks, an orange shirt and a white sweater. The outfit is topped off with a pink princess hat that covers the growing bump on her head, the result of a medical procedure performed in August.

During that short operation – a precursor to the major surgery that awaits Noora in December – Dr. John Attwood, a Portland plastic surgeon, inserted a balloon under Noora's healthy scalp. Every few days, saline is injected into the balloon to expand it and stretch the skin so Noora will have some scalp to cover her new bone. The bump on her head is now about the size of a tennis ball.

Noora has her own little green scrapbooking bag filled with glue, staples, stickers, colorful paper, scissors, a hole puncher and other supplies. Gee has brought her personal bag, too, and all of the materials are spread out on a table. Noora sits down and gets to work.

"Aha," Gee says as Noora holds up some construction paper.

"Aha, aha," Noora responds, gluing a photo of herself to the paper.

The 12- by 12-inch scrapbook is filled with memories of Noora's time in Maine. Gee gave Noora and her father a camera so they could take pictures wherever they went. Noora decorates them with stickers, rhinestones and other doodads before adding them to the scrapbook. There are photos of Noora at the beach, at the circus, giggling with friends, playing with a staff member who works in the upstairs office at the Ronald McDonald House.

"This is one of her favorite places to go, is the playground," Gee said, holding up a photo.

Noora...