Chinese woman leaves West Mich. with new outlook

Mon, Sep 14, 2009    to del.icio.us

SPRING LAKE TOWNSHIP — China native Xiu Hua Yan left America last week with a much different outlook — and inlook — than when she arrived.

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Xiu Hua, 28, received more than seven months of pro bono treatment from a local dermatologist, Dr. Jason VanIttersum, who helped lighten a debilitating facial birth mark she had carried throughout her life.

Xiu Hua suffered from Sturge-Weber Syndrome since birth.

"It's basically a benign overgrowth of blood vessels," said VanIttersum of Lakeshore Dermatology Laser and Medical Spa in Norton Shores. "She had been born with a birth mark on her face and neck. It covered her chest and back as well."

VanIttersum provided laser treatments about three weeks apart to lighten the almost three-decade progression of skin discoloration.

Spring Lake Township resident Jeanne Farrer, who taught English as a second language in China through the Reformed Church of America, first met Xiu Hua almost a decade ago.

"I promised her then that I would try to find help for her," said Farrer, who contacted VanIttersum after learning about treatments the dermatologist performed on a child from Lebanon. "I e-mailed him pictures and he said, 'Bring her over and I'll treat her.' That's why we brought her here. It was a wonderful thing that he did."

Xiu Hua stayed in Farrer's home throughout the extended medical treatments. Between treatments, Xiu Hua volunteered at five nonprofit organizations in the Tri-Cities.

"She loved the volunteering and it helped her English," Farrer said. "She was able to speak it and hear it. Volunteering was all new for her, but it was a good experience for her. In developing countries, there aren't many volunteers because everyone is busy earning a living. She thought Americans overall were generous and accepting. In her country, if you have this kind of disability, you're kind of shunned. She felt very much accepted here.

"By the time she went home, she was just thrilled with how she looked," Farrer continued. "Everyone else was, too."

VanIttersum said he had hoped to do more, but the syndrome and tumors had already consumed deeper tissues near the bone and caused blindness in one eye.

"The lasers we have can improve the surface of the skin," VanIttersum said. "They don't have these lasers in China. If we had been able to get to her when she was an infant, we could have accomplished a lot more."

VanIttersum said he noticed a distinct difference between the young woman when she started her treatment and the one who left his office recently to return to her native China. He said the 40 pages of charts he keeps in his office seem small compared to the leap of confidence he noticed in her demeanor.

"It was obviously affecting her emotional well-being and her life in a big way," the dermatologist said. "She didn't have another option. Nobody in China was willing to treat her. If I can do something like this to help somebody out, I'm happy to do it."

VanIttersum estimates the cost of the services he provided Xiu Hua at about $15,000, but he said the results in her self-confidence were priceless.

"We were able to accomplish some improvement in lightening the skin and shrinking the tumors," he said. "I think there was a lot of improvement in her self-esteem. I saw a lot of difference from the time she came here to the time she left last week.

"If you have a birth mark like that, don't assume you have to live with it," VanIttersum added. "There are good treatments available now that weren't available even five years ago."