Manila bus survivor Yik Siu-ling regains her smile
Yik Siu-ling is regaining her confidence since a facelift, though she has more surgeries but now realises there are others in worse situations living happily
Two years on from the horror of the Manila bus shoot-out, Yik Siu-ling still wears a face mask when she goes out.
But behind the mask, the 35-year-old mother, whose lower jaw was shattered by a bullet, wears a broader smile than she did a year ago and speaks more confidently.
Yik was shot in the face by sacked policeman Rolando Mendoza, who hijacked a tour bus in Rizal Park and later murdered seven Hong Kong tourists and their guide before he was killed in a bungled rescue operation.
Speaking ahead of the second anniversary of the shooting next Thursday, she said she still needed to take psychiatric medicine and sleeping pills, and had occasional nightmares.
"In fact, I have seen it through," she said. "But sometimes I still feel unhappy when I think about it. It has left me with deep memories."
Yik said her confidence returned after she had facelift surgery several months ago, removing the scars on her right cheek. Now only two obvious scars remain on her chin.
The Hubei -born woman, who had been proud of her beauty before her injury, said she would not stop using the mask until she had completed teeth implants and other plastic surgery, which might take several years. But she turned down an offer from a Korean hospital to carry out plastic surgery for her.