Burn victim finds love in her home away from home

Buried in Katz’s arms, Hasi looked like a typical 5-year-old, with her long black hair splayed across her small pink backpack. When she peeked out from the crook of his arm, however, the trauma she has endured was apparent.

Severely burned as an infant in a fatal attack by her Sri Lankan father on Hasi’s mother, Hasi has already undergone several procedures at Boston’s Shriners Hospital for Children to repair the damage. She will need almost constant medical attention until adulthood.

Katz and his wife, Liz Smith, are sponsoring Hasi’s extended stays in America. At some point they would like to obtain full guardianship of the girl, who lives in a children’s medical center when she is in her native country. For now, they just want Hasi to know that she has a home and a family in Massachusetts.

This afternoon, the family is planning to host a celebration for Hasi at the Union Congregational Church in Groton, with a silent auction and performances by a children’s musician and a Sri Lankan music and dance troupe. Marking the beginning of Hasi’s third stint in Groton, it is the first fund-raiser the family has organized.

Although Shriners sees its patients free of charge, conducting regular surgeries on Hasi’s deformed right hand and ear and grafting new skin around her joints, the costs of her routine medical visits for skin problems and immunizations have added up. So have the plane tickets for the girl and her caregivers.

With Hasi scheduled to begin kindergarten at the Florence Roche Elementary School, she has become a well-known presence around town, said Smith, an apparel industry consultant who first met Hasi during her extensive travels in Sri Lanka.

“It’s a small community, and we’re in and out of so many places of business - ballet lessons, preschool, the grocery store,’’ she said. “Her doctor’s office took up a collection. The nurse there loves her to death.’’

At 5, Hasi is well aware that her burns make her stand out. During an elementary school orientation last spring, an older boy passing in the hallway yelled, “What happened to you?’’

Yet Hasi’s personality has blossomed in her new home. “She’s just an amazing kid,’’ said Smith. “Even at Shriners, where they see dozens of kids every day, she’s amazing. Maybe [the attack] happened so young, it hasn’t dampened her spirit. But it will do something psychically that she hasn’t dealt with yet.’’

“She’s probably the most severely burned child I’ve worked with,’’ said Dr. Russell Coleman, Hasi’s primary care physician in Groton. “Many kids burned to her degree wouldn’t have survived. The fact that she’s still here is remarkable.’’

Smith, he said, has done exemplary work in communicating Hasi’s needs to both him and the staff at Shriners.

“In terms of having an involved parent, she’s a star,’’ said Coleman, who refers to Smith as Hasi’s “mom.’’

On this trip, Hasi is accompanied by her favorite caregiver, Ruveni Balasooriya, a Sri Lankan nurse who has already lived in Smith and Katz’s house for several months. They returned to Sri Lanka in January - Ruveni had family affairs to attend to - and Hasi came back in April with a new caregiver. But the young woman was unhappy in America, and Hasi, who can’t be here without a Sri Lankan nurse, had to leave again in June.

Sending them back “was a very difficult moral decision for us,’’ said Smith, who is in near-constant negotiations with the Sri Lankan government. “We never know for sure if she’ll be able to return. But the situation wasn’t healthy for Hasi.’’

Though they know Hasi will have to return to Sri Lanka again sometime after the new year - Ruveni is getting married - Smith and Katz, who share three grown sons from previous marriages, say they’re trying to create as much stability for Hasi here as possible.

When they speak to Hasi on the phone from Sri Lanka, said Smith, she asks for her daddy first, then runs through an inventory of her American companions: Where is Chucky, the family’s old Weimaraner? Where is Miss Rossbach, her preschool teacher?

At the airport, however, the normally chatty little girl was too pooped to smile. Ruveni, wearing a short denim jacket with a fashionable US Army patch on the shoulder, had gone off to track down their luggage. After an exhausting 30-hour trip with three flight changes, Hasi just wanted to rock in Katz’s arms. While she whimpered softly, he whispered to her about snack time and going home to her cozy bed in Groton.

“I always let her know she’s my special girl,’’ he said over Hasi’s shoulder. “There’s a natural instinct to be a father.’’

As she watched her husband hold the child, Smith’s eyes watered, and she smiled ruefully. For her, seeing Katz become so involved in Hasi’s life has been nearly as rewarding as getting the child her medical care. The two have a ritualized trip to the dump together every Saturday, and Katz, who just won a championship with his men’s league baseball team, tries to get her to play catch and swing a bat.

“We’re hoping this goes on a long time,’’ said Katz. “You want to leave her with a sense of what it’s like to have a father.’’

Celebration for Hasi with performances by Wendy Frank and a Sri Lankan music and dance troupe, 3 to 4:30 p.m. today at Union Congregational Church, 218 Main St., Groton. For more information, call 978-500-1392 or 978-448-9944.