Shereen Sadiq awards her very special NHS Hero
St George’s Hospital was the setting for a special reunion this afternoon as Shereen Sadiq returned to the hospital to pay tribute to her NHS Hero, Mr Mehmet Manisali, the maxillofacial surgeon who has turned her life around.
Five years ago Shereen was hit four times on the head with a blunt instrument and left for dead during a burglary at her home. Shereen’s injuries were so severe she was not expected to live, with the right side of her face completely crushed.
Fast forward five years and Shereen is enjoying life again. A number of neurosurgical operations saved Shereen and intensive therapy and neurorehabilitation have got her back on her feet.
On top of this, over a period of four years Mr Manisali and his team undertook a series of complex operations to rebuild Shereen’s face, giving Shereen her self esteem back and a hugely important boost to her confidence.
As a gesture of her gratitude, Shereen nominated Mr Manisali for an NHS Heroes Award, a national award scheme that recognises the extraordinary efforts of staff from across the country.*
On handing Mr Manisali his award, Shereen said:
“I nominated Mr Manisali as my NHS Hero as he is an inspiring, warm and caring surgeon who has changed my life, and helped me look in the mirror again.
“Mr Manisali is a brilliant maxillofacial surgeon, and I, as one of his reconstructed patients, can now look forward to the future thanks to him.”
A clearly touched Mr Manisali said:
“It is very humbling to be presented with this award, and very special to me as being nominated by one of your patients makes it a very personal and emotional experience. I am delighted with the progress Shereen has made over the last few years, and have to pay a huge amount of credit to my team who have supported her every step of the way, and to Shereen for the inspiring courage and determination she has summoned over the last few years.”
Mr Manisali talking about Shereen’s case on accepting his NHS Heroes award
Shereen, Mr Manisali and the maxillofacial team
Shereen’s NHS Heroes nomination video
Notes to editors
For more information and for high resolution photography, please contact the Communications Unit on 020 8725 5151 or email: communications@stgeorges.nhs.uk. Outside working hours, please page us by calling 0844 822 2888, leaving a short message and contact details for pager SG548. High res photos available on request.
YouTube video – Shereen’s story
A video of Shereen discussing the awards and Mr Manisali is available to view and embed within your website at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSPfe9-mq9U
About the NHS Heroes Awards
*NHS Heroes is a national award scheme that recognises the efforts of staff whose expertise, passion for care, concern and everyday kindness touches the lives of patients and their families in hospital and community services. People whose day-to-day work has changed, enhanced or even saved a life dear to them.
About St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest healthcare providers in the UK. Its main site, St George’s Hospital in Tooting – one of the country’s principal teaching hospitals – is shared with St George’s, University of London, which trains medical students and carries out advanced medical research. As well as acute hospital services, the trust provides a wide variety of specialist and community hospital based care and a full range of community services to children, adults, older people and people with learning disabilities. These services are provided from Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, 11 health centres and clinics, schools and nurseries, patients’ homes and Wandsworth Prison.
St George’s Hospital, Tooting, is one of four major trauma centres and one of eight hyper acute stroke units for London.
The trust is an accredited centre of excellence for trauma, neurology, cardiology, cancer and blood pressure services, and the national centre for family HIV care and bone marrow transplantation for non-cancer diseases.
For more information, visit www.xstgeorges.nhs.uk
