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Mikhail Cherney Foundation sponsored a trip
to Los Angeles for several teenage girls wounded in the Dolphinarium
terrorist bombing on June 1, 2001. The program of the visit
included both treatment - visits to hospitals and local specialists
- and entertainment - visits to film studios and a trip to
Disneyland. The girls were hosted by local Jewish families.
Among the medical problems the principal
one was loss of hearing, since this is the first immediate
effect of a bombing victim - one's eardrums tear apart. Another
visit was to a plastic surgeon: appearances matter to young
girls, and many victims have had to wear tightly wrapped clothing
after the bombing, since they are ashamed of horrible scars
on their bodies.
The group included
- Larisa Azyasskaya (eardrum
reconstruction);
- Oksana Diatlova (a right-hand
nerve damaged, both eardrums blown up, loss of hearing in
the left ear, and metal splinters in the right hand);
- Vika Agurenko (both eardrums,
open fractures in arms and legs, massive loss of blood, leg
muscles torn off, numerous bolts and screws in bones and soft
tissue, as well as a severe emotional trauma: two of her best
friends, Irina Osadchaya and Alexei Lupalo, died, with her
lying on the ground next to them);
- Rita Sherman (a splinter
in her eye, a busted eardrum);
- Karina Krasnopolskaya
(splinters in her eyes, ears, and legs);
- Faina Yakovleva (severe
leg wound that led to a complete leg disfigurement, and eardrum
damage);
- Tanya Weitz (burns all
over and a punctured eardrum).
Another girl, Marina Berkovskaya, will never
see Los Angeles. That horrible night she died instantly. In
her place was her mother Liliya Zhukovskaya, who accompanied
the group.
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