Healing the Children

HEALING THE CHILDREN    Mariana Yupanqui Lira with the Eagan family, who hosted the now 7-year-old at their home while she had one of her final surgeries to remove potentially cancerous tissue and replaced it with clear skin. The Eagans are parishioners of St. Pius X Church in Montville.

DENVILLE  The story of Mariana Yupanqui Lira’s road to healing is remarkable. Her journey consists of traveling between two countries almost 3,500 miles apart, several international flights and four surgeries. What is especially remarkable is that Mariana, who was born in Peru, is only 7 years old. Despite having to endure these long trips and surgeries, she’s like any typical youngster her age. She enjoys playing, communicating on her tablet and collecting dolls.

Her healing story began five years ago, when she was a toddler. She was born with a severe facial deformity called hairy nevus, a condition that caused what essentially was a giant mole to grow covering the left half of her face. The condition occurs in one in every 500,000 births.

The Beacon readers first met Mariana in 2015 when she was having one of her first surgeries. She was staying with the Sisters of Christian Charity in Mendham with her mother, Bertha. At the time in which they took Mariana in, Sister of Christian Charity Immaculata Aborline said, “We love to help. Being able to host a child has given us the idea of what family life is like. It also makes us thank God for what we have when you see some of these children with the difficult medical situations they have. You also thank God for everything the doctors have done.”

The surgeries Mariana has had for the past five years were made possible through Healing the Children New Jersey, a non-profit organization that provides life-changing medical care to children from countries around the world. Mariana’s surgeries removed potentially cancerous tissue and replaced it with clear skin. Dr. Hakan Kutlu, a board-certified plastic surgeon, performed the surgeries.

During her most recent stay last month, she traveled without her mother and was placed with a local host — the Eagan family, who are parishioners of St. Pius X in Montville. She underwent her most recent pro-bono surgery at St. Clare Hospital here. It was successful and she has since returned back home to Peru.

Susan Eagan, who was Mariana’s host mother, said, “Mariana is a very normal kid. She loves playing tag and she made herself right at home. I have three of my own children, ages 11, 13 and 15 and they all got along great.”

During her time with the Eagan family, she was enrolled in first grade at the local elementary school to keep up with her studies and education. Mariana also visited the Sisters of Christian Charity a few times during her stay. Sister Immac­ulata said, “She looks great and she remembered us. Her mother always keeps in touch and sends us a note thanking us for our hospitality.”

Through Healing the Children NJ, both the Sisters of Christian Charity and the Eagan family have welcomed other children in need of surgery into their homes. These children have come from Iraq, Kazakhstan, Honduras, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic and Russia. “We do it to give back to others,” Eagan told The Beacon. “My children have learned a lot through this experience. They have learned about other people, their languages and cultures.”

Treatment for Mariana’s condition involved removing the affected skin and replacing it with healthy skin from other areas of her body. To create new skin, Dr. Kutlu placed balloon-like tissue expanders under the skin to stretch it, much like how pregnant women’s skin stretches as their bellies expand as the child in the womb grows. These expanders were put under unaffected areas of the face and filled with fluid to expand that skin. When left it place, they create grafts to replace the affected skin. Grafts are also taken from less noticeable areas that are covered by clothing.

“Mariana is super resilient. She’s very open to people and she’s changed quite a bit. She used to be very withdrawn (since first meeting her in 2014),” said Dr. Kutlu. The plastic surgeon has worked with Healing the Children to provide pro bono services to international patients as a way to give back to his community. As a solo practitioner, he is unable to go on overseas mission trips without shutting down his practice. So he partners with organizations like Healing the Children, which bring patients to him. He is also grateful to hospitals like St. Clare’s for allowing him to use their resources. “St. Clare’s is a nice, local community hospital,” he said. “The staff are great people to work with and we were so happy they were able to donate their services.”

Over time, the mole will become less noticeable. After her latest surgery at St. Clare’s, Mariana will no longer need major revisions, although, she will need touch ups throughout her life.

“This truly was an effort to be there for a child.” Sister Immaculata said. “From the doctors and hospitals to the host family and volunteers that worked with Healing the Children, we are all just grateful we are able to change the life of a child.”