Malala Can Stand, Communicate

Pakistani teen shot by Taliban shows more progress
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 19, 2012 5:59 AM CDT
Updated Oct 19, 2012 7:50 AM CDT
Malala Standing in Hospital
Pakistani students sing as they hold pictures of 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai.   (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

A great sign of hope for Malala Yousufzai: Doctors say that with help, she was able to stand for the first time since being shot in the head by the Taliban, reports ITV News. The Pakistani teen also is able to write, reports AP, though she still can't speak. She is being treated in Britain, and doctors hope to arrange to have her listen to a phone call from her father in Pakistan. The extent of her brain injuries still is not clear, but she is "well enough that she's agreed that she's happy, in fact keen, for us to share more clinical detail," says the medical director of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

He adds that Malala is still battling an infection from the bullet, but that she has shown steady progress since coming out of her long anesthesia, reports the Los Angeles Times. “One of the first things she asked the nurses was what country she was in,” he says. "She’s closer to the edge of the woods, but she’s not out of the woods.” Since the attack, Malala has become the face of the movement for girls' education. (More Malala Yousafzai stories.)

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