FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Luna Fenner is now a playful toddler but Local 10 News first shared her story shortly after she was born in March 2019 with a growth covering most of her face.
Her mother Carolina Fenner sought an alternative to extensive and invasive surgical procedures in the U.S. and found a doctor in Russia who could perform laser and skin grafting procedures.
“I stopped my life, you know?” Fenner said.
The mother and daughter are now facing their fifth trip overseas, one Fenner hopes will be the last.
“By myself and Luna, taking care of her and the surgeries and the recovery -- it’s hard,” she said.
The visits last for several weeks to allow for repeated treatments.
“They remove the nevus and after 10 days they do the skin grafts, so they take the skin from some part of her body and put it on top of it,” Fenner said.
But the process is far from perfect and strangers can be cruel.
“Like yesterday in the market there was a mother and a little girl and she said, ‘Wow, she’s ugly. Ewwww,’ and start running. So the problem now is she understands so she asks all the time, ‘Mom, is she disgusted of me?’ That hurts me,” Fenner said.
Fenner has created a line of dolls resembling Luna, written a book about their experience, and has close to 300,000 followers on Instagram.
She hopes every effort will increase understanding and compassion for children like Luna.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do that, but I’m trying,” Fenner said.
Fenner and Luna will leave for Russia this month and may not return until December.
Once the treatments are complete, Luna will still need plastic surgery to address the remaining scars.
To support Fenner’s mission, visit https://helpluna.com/.