PEOPLE SAY 'WOW. WOW!'

Life-changing surgeries have given this man and little girl from George a new lease on life

- PIETER VAN ZYL

ON PAPER they don’t sound like they have much in common. He’s a 42-year-old father, she’s a 10-year-old schoolgirl, and their paths might never have crossed if something rather remarkable hadn’t come their way. Melvin Maxim and Lelitha Jantjies are both recipients of life-changing treatment that’s helped them face the world with broad smiles and renewed confidence.

YOU has told the stories of Melvin and Lelitha before: he’s the man whose face and body had been disfigured by keloids for 26 years (YOU, 23 November 2023).

She’s the little girl who was left badly scarred after being attacked by the family pit bull (YOU, 14 December 2023).

Both Melvin and Lelitha, who live near George in the Western Cape, are patients of Dr Ansua Steyn, whose organisation helps people with disfigurements get the help they need.

The Dr Ansua Foundation offers free treatment to patients who can’t afford costly procedures – and today Melvin and Lelitha are meeting each other and spending time with Dr Steyn on an estate near Victoria Bay where the doctor’s practice is located.

The pale-pink scars on Lelitha’s face will fade in time and her mom, Ahisa Louw, says her daughter is back to being her radiant self.

“Doc came to make our lives better,” Ahisa says.

Melvin is doing well too. The grape-like growths that used to hang from his face are gone and the scars under his chin will also fade as the months go by.

Dr Steyn, a GP with experience in scar treatment, rallies experts in the aesth etic surgery field to treat patients alongside her – and she does so for one reason only: to change people’s lives. “I have a burning desire to help,” she says. “Period.”