THANKS to Jennifer Rowsell, Adrian is a normal, bright, cheerful, awkward, cocky, well-spoken teenager.

But when the north Oxford teacher first set eyes on him three years ago he had no bladder and was doubly incontinent. He had not, at the age of 13, been to school.

Despite numerous operations the Romanian health service, if it can be described as that, failed him. His family had sold their furniture to pay for the treatment. Adrian seemed destined for a life of abject misery and his mother had a nervous breakdown as a result.

When the Communist regime in Romania collapsed its orphanages were soon in the headlines. The West saw horrific scenes of neglected children, tied down in their beds, deprived of medical attention and hope.

Adrian Vlad, while his mum was still in hospital, was one of these children.

Then he was discovered by the AMAR International charity and by Jennifer Rowsell.

What is immediately evident about her is that she is not your obvious do-gooder. 'Why me?' was her cry when she realised what she had actually taken on.

She was quite happy as a wife, researcher, teacher and mum-of-two. She lived a full and happy life in the family's comfortable home and had not been looking for a diversion, let alone a mission. But she and Adrian seemed destined to meet. It was Jennifer's husband, Tony, a consultant paediatric plastic surgeon and charity trustee, who casually asked his wife if they could look after a poorly child for a few days before his life-saving op.

Having no idea what was entailed she readily agreed. She was working from home at the time.

Adrian was flown over by the charity armed with disposable nappies - which his family had never encountered and could not have afforded.

As Adrian and the Rowsell family waited for the operation date, Jennifer began teaching him English.

She said: "It was great fun actually. I teach English teenagers normally, so had never had to explain the basics. We mimed and sang and drew. It was not very conventional but seemed to do the trick."

Then he was taken up to London for the ten-hour operation to construct the bladder he was born without.

"It was a very anxious time," Jennifer admitted, "We had become very close by then and I was not prepared for how ill major surgery would leave him."

After two weeks Adrian was allowed to recuperate in Leckford Road and Jennifer found herself stretched to the limit and wondered if she had taken on too much. Inevitably the invalid grew restless, fractious and homesick.

Said Jennifer: "It was just the two of us for five weeks, no school and no job, which was quite unnatural. But we managed and he got better.

"Of course my two children and husband were there in the evenings and at weekends, so it wasn't as if I had to soldier on alone."

Then Jennifer was asked to accompany Adrian back to Romania and meet his family.

After being introduced to his delighted family in their humble Bucharest flat, a nun invited her to look at the work being done by the charity.

"I went to some orphanages and hospitals. At first I tried to block it out of my mind. It was the only way I could deal with what I saw.

"But Sister Aloysius helped me learn to see the positive side and concentrate on the work being done for the children there."

Adrian, 16, returned back to Oxford for the first time last week, for a minor operation - and again stayed with the Rowsells.

"He's part of the family now," Jennifer said fondly. But she admitted with a smile that she would now think twice about taking on such a huge responsibility again.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.