Liza Verbitskaya was abandoned by her mother when she was just a year old. Since then, however, the youngster has done amazingly well to put her past behind her – and yet recently her mother reappeared.

After a Russian mother in the west of the enormous country did the unthinkable, her daughter probably thought she had seen the last of her. The girl was just a year old when her parent abandoned her in an empty house. And yet then, just when the child’s life was really starting to come together, her estranged mother suddenly reappeared.

Looking at her today, you would never know the hardships that Liza Verbitskaya has already faced in her short life. The Russian youngster was left for dead at the age of one. Thankfully, though, she preferred to look to the future rather than the past.

It isn’t hard to see why Verbitskaya chose not to dwell on her formative years, mind you. When she was an infant, police found her all alone in an empty apartment in Yaroslavl, a historic city about 160 miles northeast of Moscow. She had apparently been crying for days, and her parents were nowhere to be seen. On top of this, the tiny child had suffered a fractured hip.

Authorities consequently rushed the baby to a doctor, who actually estimated that she had been lying on the floor weeping for a week. Given her hip injury, moreover, consultants worried that Verbitskaya might never walk. They also suspected that the child had had a delayed development.

As a result of all this, Verbitskaya remained in the hospital for quite some time while doctors assessed her condition. Meanwhile, a local woman called Inna Nika was making frequent trips to the medical facility to visit her son, who had just undergone surgery.

And somehow fate brought Nika together with Verbitskaya. During one of the mother’s visits to the hospital, she could hear crying coming from a nearby room. Moreover, the wailing tugged at Nika’s heartstrings, so she proceeded to investigate.

“My son and I decided to look,” Nika told Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty in 2013. “We go in, [and] on the white… sheets lies a charming dark-skinned girl. Seeing us, she cried even louder.” The little girl was, of course, Verbitskaya.

Seeing the baby all alone in the hospital sent Nika’s motherly instincts into overdrive, so she decided to ask a nurse about Verbitskaya’s predicament. And after learning that the child had no known parents and was destined to go to the local orphanage, Nika knew that she had to help.

So it was that the kindhearted woman began visiting little Verbitskaya every time she went to the hospital. Nika furthermore showered the tot with gifts and essentials like toys, clothes, food and diapers. However, one day the caring stranger was shocked when she arrived to find Verbitskaya’s bed empty.

The reason? Doctors were convinced that Verbitskaya had recovered sufficiently for them to transfer her to the orphanage. It was then, however, that Nika realized she had fallen in love with the little girl. So, she rushed down to the nursery and told staff that she wanted to adopt the child.

And while it may have been an impulsive decision, it was not one that Nika would come to regret – as time would tell. Over the years, the caring woman helped Verbitskaya overcome her problems. She even switched her job so that she could be there to teach the child how to walk, talk and eat.

It’s worth remembering that although Verbitskaya was two years old by the time she arrived at Nika’s home, she was not as developed as your average toddler. Not only was she frightened of loud noises, but she was also unable to chew food. Hence, Nika was going to have a job on her hands if she was going to help the little girl to overcome her trauma.

Soon, though, Nika’s efforts paid off. Verbitskaya began attending a modeling agency at the age of three, and there she also took acting and exercise classes. However, the biggest reward for Nika was when her adopted daughter finally called her “mom.”

That said, even with her development back on track, Verbitskaya faced difficulties. For instance, thanks to her “dark” complexion, other children didn’t want to be friends with her. But Verbitskaya refused to be broken. “With every cell, she believes she is a beautiful woman,” Nika said.

And as Verbitskaya’s confidence grew, so did her collection of accolades. Indeed, the apartment that she lives in with Nika is like a shrine to the young girl’s achievements. Practically every wall is covered with awards – be they for modeling, dancing, or something else – which proves just how far the child has come since her abandonment.

One of Verbitskaya’s biggest achievements was winning the Mini Miss Yaroslavl title in 2012. Yet the youngster’s positive attributes don’t, it seems, just boil down to her looks. “She is talented – and talented in everything,” Nika gushed.

According to the proud mom, Verbitskaya is particularly accomplished when it comes to the arts, though. “The music teacher insists that she needs to study; maybe music is her future profession,” she said. “The same story with drawing.”

But to secure the future of her dreams, Verbitskaya began to pave a career for herself in the modeling industry. In fact, she would become quite a star within Russia – and as a result, it wasn’t long before she caught the attention of someone significant.

That person was her biological mother. After seeing Verbitskaya gain fame, the woman tried to reach out to her estranged daughter. However, her attempts to make contact were refused. It will fall to Verbitskaya, when she’s older, to decide whether she wants to reunite with her long-lost mother.

Now 23 years old, Verbitskaya has been dubbed “the most beautiful girl in the country” – but what truly matters is what’s on the inside. Thanks to the love of a stranger who eventually became her mom, she blossomed from a lost little girl into a lovely young woman.