She was six years old at the time and underwent surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital. The operation cost £67,400.

Elena and Darina Photo: Viktor Huseynov / east2west news / Profimedia

Then her mother expressed her hope that Darina would breathe easier after the facial reconstruction surgery, but she was most happy that her daughter would speak and finally call her “mom.”

After the first operation, she learned to smile.

When she returned to her native Russia for the first time, her father hugged her tightly and said, “You are beautiful.”

“You see, she learned to smile,” Elena then added with tears of joy in her eyes.

By the way, since the day Darina was born, this family has experienced a lot of cruelty – not only from strangers, but also from their own family, who have completely cut off all contact with them. Only Elena’s sister remained with them.

Darina wasn’t even accepted into kindergarten because they said the other kids would be afraid of her. Her parents bought her lots of toys, but as her mother says: “There’s no substitute for friends.”