A Russian girl who was born without a chin and lips has flown to England to have a life-changing surgery at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Darina Shpengler is speculated to have a rare condition called Nager syndrome, though she’s never been diagnosed with it officially.
When the unfortunate child was born, medics reportedly suggested her mom Elena Shpengler to ‘abandon’ the baby.
Elena, 47, and husband Yury Shpengler, 49, had to leave their home in a remote Russian village after their own family heartlessly rejected Darina.
The six-year-old has now headed to London for surgery to rebuild her face. Elena hopes the pioneering treatment will enable her mute daughter to speak, as well as to eat.
‘My every thought and hope is for the surgery to go well, because it would mean Darina would be able to eat and she’ll start gaining weight,’ she told The Siberian Times about her daughter’s upcoming surgery.
‘She will start breathing better and hopefully will grow up, and won’t get sick as often as she does now. She will start playing with other children because they won’t be scared of her.’
Elena is overwhelmingly excited to hear the six-year-old talk.
‘I cannot say how much I am waiting to hear her voice, to hear her saying “mama,”‘ she said. ‘This will be the best melody in the world, to hear her speak.’
Funded by the Russian-based charity Rusfond, Darina’s operation is expected to cost around $85,390.
The youngster, who weighs just 25lbs, is under the care of Professor David Dunaway, head of the craniofacial unit at Great Ormond Street.
‘I never thought it would be possible to see an expert of the level of Professor Dunaway and I firmly believe in the surgery’s success,’ Elena said.
‘We need all our powers to help Darina. We need to raise and support her, she has a lot to overcome.’
When Darina was born, the medics initially tried to keep Elena from seeing her newborn.
‘I begged them to show me,’ she said. ‘The nurse looked at me and asked, “are you ready to see it?”
When Elena saw her daughter lying in the incubator, she ‘fell into darkness and lost consciousness.’
‘I was taken to intensive care, where the doctors suggested I leave the baby in the hospital,’ the mother recalled. ‘But I strongly refused.’
However, her husband’s reaction was quite unfazed. ‘His face did not change when he saw Darina,’ she said.
Yury reportedly told Elena: ‘She is ours, our girl.’
The woman recalled how she spent that night trying to comfort the baby crying in pain.
‘It is so horrible when you see a crippled and crying baby and you are unable to help,’ she said. ‘Darina was crying day and night, and I was crying too.
‘I understood she was in pain. Her mouth is constantly open and all the time in blood.’
While Ryan and Elena were trying to overcome their grief, their family cruelly shunned the baby.
‘Only my sister supported me,’ Elena said. ‘All other relatives just stopped any communication with us. ‘My brothers, their children, my husband’s mother – nobody wanted to accept Darina.’
As if this rejection wasn’t enough, their relatives even accused them that they’d themselves damaged the newborn’s mouth.
‘I got a call from the police,’ she said. ‘They demanded explanations.’
Though Darina can’t speak, she is completely aware of how others treat her.
‘I want people to stop pointing fingers at her so she doesn’t feel unhappy,’ Elena said. ‘Darina is now old enough to understand everything.
‘Can you imagine, we go into the shop, see our own relatives, and they immediately go out, asking their children not to look at us?
‘Darina cannot express her feelings with words, but I can see that just like me she is excited to see the doctor.’
Elena doesn’t keep her daughter hidden at the home. In an interview with a local media outlet, she said: ‘We do not hide Darina from people. We take her everywhere with us.
‘My husband Yury does not feel ashamed either. He takes Darina everywhere.
‘People [have] told us to put a mask on her but he replied: “If you don’t want, don’t look at her – but we accept her the way she is.”‘
Orest Topolnitsky, the Russian surgeon who operated on Darina, said: ‘We know this family has problems with relatives who have not loved this girl from the very beginning.
‘Some people have no hearts, it is so shocking.’
Despite all this, Elena says her daughter is a happy girl who ‘likes to sing.’ The youngster hums melodies as she can’t pronounce words.
‘She loves to put on clothes and look at herself in the mirror,’ the mother added.