Irina,now 46,never imagined she'd one day make a living as a balloon artist.The daughter of an engineer and a teacher,she won top academic awards in high school,went on to medical school and became an emergency room physician in a small city. "I loved the science of medicine," she says today,"but being a doctor was very hard.I saw things people don't normally see--women giving birth in the street,people getting drunk and killing someone." Medications were scarce,making it very difficult to treat those in need.When Irina was 33,a girlfriend showed her a magazine photo of an American named Wes Patterson.They began exchanging letters,and married that December.Irina took a public relations job.Then,a few years ago,she watched a man at a party twist a skinny balloon into the shape of a dog. _  Irina soon purchased a tiny pump and a supply of balloons and began practicing on the sidewalks.Observers challenged her to create all kinds of figures.Now,Irina says,"There's nothing I can't make." Many years ago,Irina's husband developed a serious disease which now keeps him homebound."But he is a very wonderful man," Irina says.Thanks to her new career,she is able to support them both,performing about five events weekly and earning as much as  $2,000 per appearance. "Irina's a wonder," says Marlene Berg,chief development officer for the Florida Heart Research Institute."She turned the evening into magic." "My whole life has become magic," Irina says,"and it's all come from a balloon." What's Irina's job now?
An emergency room physician. A researcher. A public relations worker. An artist.