A missionary's miracle

VIRGINIA BEACH,Va - A Virginia Beach missionary spent ten years tracking down a badly burned orphan girl in Ukraine. On Wednesday, that girl had a life changing surgery in Norfolk.

Galina is still at the age between a young woman and a child, when swing sets are still fun, and talking about boys is a bit embarrasing.

She's self conscious of the scars beneath her headscarf. No one really knows how Galina was burned, nor does Galina herself. She was burned at a very young age, and being an orphan has left her with many unanswered questions.

The burns have left her bald over half of her head and one ear deformed. While many turn away from the painful sight, missionary Vincent Rosini of Virginia Beach was drawn in by it.

"What was striking about it was the severity of the burn and the beauty of the child's face. It was such a contrast to me. She was so cute," Rosini said.

Galina was about two-years-old when Rosini first saw her in the summer of 1999. She was sitting in squalor on the streets of Ukraine, begging with a gypsy woman. Rosini offered to get her medical help, but once he found it, he'd lost contact with the girl.

"I went back in December and coudn't find her. I had people looking in shelters, train stations, they couldnt' find her," Rosini explained.

Rosini continued his work in orphanages, returning several times a year - always searching for the young girl he so badly wanted to help. 

"It was very very frustrating for me because I felt responsible," he said.

Her face haunted him as he continued to wonder what had become of the girl on the streets. Then, in January 2009, a Ukrainian stranger approached him. She needed medical help for a child. Rosini couldn't believe it -- 10 years later he'd found the girl he longed to help.

"I could not believe it, ten years later I found this girl!" Rosini said.

Rosini brought Galina to Children's Hospital Of The King's Daughters in Norfolk. Three months ago, doctors put two balloon like tissue expanders into her skull. On Wednesday afternoon, surgeons removed them and gave her a new head of hair.

Dr. George Hoer said, "We want to take that scalp once it's stretched out and pull it over to cover up the burned scalp." Once it's done, he said, her head will return to its normal shape and new hair will grow normally.

Rosini hopes Galina will find a new confidence. He plans to go back to work in the orphanages with one less face to haunt him.

Vincent Rosini runs a non-profit called Frontier Horizon  ( www.frontierhorizon.org/)  in Virginia Beach.
He brings orphans from Ukraine and Nicaragua here as exchange students twice a year.
Many are up for adoption.