Miracle Cure Was TLC : Medicine: Russian doctors could do nothing to save Eleanor Baranova, who had a giant life-threatening mole. Then a retired American pediatrician stepped in, and the rest, Eleanor’s mother says, was a dream come true.
After months of effort by a handful of concerned Americans, a 2-year-old Russian girl is undergoing a series of operations at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center to correct a disfiguring skin condition that threatened her life.
Eleanor Baranova, who lives with her parents in the Russian town of Zelanadolsk in the state of Tatarstan, is afflicted with a giant hairy nevus, a furry mole that covers most of her chest and back and has a high likelihood of turning cancerous.
The first operation, performed Wednesday by plastic surgeon Dr. Malcolm Lesavoy, involved removing most of the mole from Eleanor’s chest and covering the area with skin grafts taken from the girl’s thighs.
The operation went “wonderfully,” according to Dr. Wayne McKinny, a 58-year-old retired Palm Springs pediatrician who helped bring Eleanor to America. At least two more operations will be necessary to completely remove the mole.
Lesavoy, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the county hospital near Torrance, is performing the procedures for free. But other hospital charges--expected to amount to $15,000 for the first operation alone--will have to be paid.
“It is a miracle to come here,” Eleanor’s mother, Roza Yagudina, said before Wednesday’s operation, her eyes glistening with tears. Speaking through an interpreter, Yagudina added, “I had never dreamed it would be possible. I am so happy.”
Eleanor’s journey to America began last spring, when McKinny encountered her during a visit to an orphanage in Zelanadolsk that is run by her mother. Yagudina told McKinny that she had taken Eleanor to numerous hospitals and clinics to seek treatment, but Russian doctors told her the mole could not be removed.
Touched by the girl’s plight, McKinny and his friend Ted Werner, 60, a former educator and international relief worker who lives in Rancho Palos Verdes, began trying to raise money for an operation and to obtain necessary travel documents for the girl to come to the United States. The two men formed a charitable organization called PATH (Pediatrics Across The Hemispheres) to help Eleanor and other children with life-threatening diseases in countries where medical help for them is not available.
Last weekend, Eleanor and her mother finally made the 25-hour plane trip from Moscow to Los Angeles, a trip paid for in part with United Airlines “bonus miles” that were donated to a special PATH account set up by the airline.
Through a stroke of luck, on the flight from Dulles International Airport to LAX, Eleanor and her mother encountered a Torrance couple, Kurt and Suzanne Nelson, who had faced a similar plight. Kurt Nelson’s son by a previous marriage was born with a giant nevus even larger than Eleanor’s. It was subsequently removed.
The Torrance couple--neither of whom speak Russian--have invited Eleanor and her mother to stay with them during the several months between the first and second of Eleanor’s operations. After the second operation, Eleanor will return to Russia for up to a year, then come back to Los Angeles to have the remainder of the mole removed.
“We’re so excited,” Suzanne Nelson said. “We’re just happy to do whatever we can to help.”
Another stroke of luck for Eleanor and her mother was the presence at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center of Margarita Lipkunskaya, a Russian doctor serving as a volunteer physician while awaiting medical certification in this country. Lipkunskaya has served as an interpreter for Eleanor’s mother and has helped the visiting Russians adjust to life in Los Angeles.
“It has all turned out even better than I could have hoped,” McKinny said. “Everything has just gone wonderfully. There was something Roza said that just brought tears to my eyes. She said that in Russia some people had called little Eleanor ‘the monster,’ but here in the United States everyone has been so kind. It’s just a wonderful thing.”
McKinny said he currently is trying to raise money for the hospital bills and other expenses. McKinny said Eleanor and her mother also need Russian interpreters to help them after the girl is discharged from the hospital sometime this week.
McKinny said that people interested in contributing money or United Airlines bonus miles, or who could serve as an interpreter, may contact him at (619) 327-1134.
