Girl, 6, born without half her face returns to Russia laughing for first time after surgery in UK

When she flew out to Britain for surgery in June, it was hoped that little Darina Shpengler might one day smile.

But when she was reunited with her beloved waiting father Yuri, 49, in at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, the ecstatic girl jumped on him chirping about all the joys and difficulties of her trip to London.

Her mother Elena wept tears of joy as she turned to me and said: 'You see - she has learned to laugh.'

‘You are so beautiful’, said the 49 year old dad. 

Our video shows Darina at the airport as she came to Moscow on her long journey back to her home in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region.

Darina and her mother Elena come back to Russia after the surgery

Darina has far to go on her medical journey. She is due back in a few months to world famous Great Ormond Street Hospital for more surgery to construct her upper jaw and lip.

But today we can finally answer the many and regular requests from our loyal readers for an update on this special girl, and happy to say the news is positive. 

It was on 15 August that Professor David Dunaway and Dr Nadeem Saeed made an 11 hour long operation on Darina.

This surgery was the culmination of a six year search by her loving parents for help for a girl who even some of her own family had rejected. 

Even in the minutes after she was born Elena and Yury they were told her condition was ‘hopeless’ due to severe disabilities, and that they should forget about her and leave her in the maternity hospital. 

They refused to allow her to be raised in an anonymous orphanage and gave her all the love they could. 

Finally, after many false starts, our readers were instrumental in raising money that put her on the road to the one place in the world able to carry out the surgery she needed to build her face. 

Ahead of her trip to London, Russian charity Rusfond funded her treatment and expenses to the tune of £67,400 ($83,000). 

Darina pictured in Moscow Domodedovo airport before taking off to London. Picture: Valeria Sukhova

When she arrived in London, aged six, Darina could not speak and weighed little more than 11 kilograms, much the same as a one-year-old child. 

Speaking and eating have been lifelong problems for Darina - so has other kids being ‘scared of her’, and not being allowed to join a kindergarten, leaving her without friends.

En route to Britain, brave mother Elena - who gave up work to care full time for Darina -  told us: 'I want people to stop pointing fingers at her so she doesn’t feel unhappy.”

Might all now start to change after this surgery?

For Elena, 47, there was an excruciating wait during the interminable 11 hour operation.

'Like any mother of a child with such a long illness history I am nervous, but also I am incredibly grateful to everyone who helped us get this far,' she said. 

'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.’

Beaming with smiles, professor David Dunaway and doctor Nadeem Saeed look so full of energy it is hard to believe they have just left an operation theatre after almost a day-long surgery

As our exclusive video shows, surgeons David Dunaway and Nadeem Saeed say: ‘We have just finished Darina’s operation. It’s been a very long day, I think we have been operating for almost 11 hours. 

’I think we are very happy with the way things have gone. 

‘We made Darina a nice little jaw, it’s in a good position, and we introduced some more skin into her neck.’

There were some nervous moments for Elena in the immediate aftermath of the surgery, with the child in intensive care.

Since mid-August Darina has been recovering. 

Her mother is full of praise for the Great Ormond Street Hospital, known as one of the finest children’s hospitals in the world.

‘Darina has received an enormous amount of love from all these people who surrounded us these months, and who took care of us,’ said Elena.

‘They didn’t speak a word in Russian, yet they still came even just to give a hug and to express their support. 

‘This had changed our daughter completely, and she learned to laugh.’

Darina with mother Elena in London. Pictures: Elena Shpengler

Interestingly, in-depth tests to find out the cause of Darina's condition did not confirm that was suffering from the Nager syndrome.

Her genetic tests are ‘100% clean’ her mother was told by doctors, meaning ‘all her troubles are based on spontaneous mutations’.

She is plainly unusual in another way.

We were told by a representative of Anglo-Medical UK, a medical concierge service who assisted Darina and her mother in London: ‘The doctors seem to agree that Darina might be the only girl in the world who has so many disabilities AND preserved her intellect.’

Darina pictured immediately after the surgery. Pictures: Elena Shpengler

Next, Darina will need new surgery by Professor Dunaway to correct her upper lip.

This means a new fund-raising attempt which The Siberian Times is joining. 

Earlier it was support from readers that allowed Darina to be examined by surgeons in Moscow for the first time, after her regional doctors in Krasnoyarsk concluded they could not help her.

It was the Moscow surgeons who recommend that the world famous Craniofacial Unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London was where she needed to be treated. 

Laughing for the first time in her life, Darina is pictured in Moscow with parents on her way back home to Siberia. Pictures: Valeria Sukhova

We will be announcing a new fundraising campaign for Darina soon to meet the costs of her surgery, but if you wish to support her family now please go to our first GoFundMe campaign.

On behalf of Darina's family, we want to thank you all for the amazing help you provided, for your time, attention, financial support and the kindest messages for Darina and her parents. This means the world for Darina and her family.