Patient Stories

Jordyn Dillabough


My name is Jordyn Dillabough, I am 20 years old and live in Winnipeg, Canada. I was first diagnosed with hip dysplasia at two months old. After a few months of wearing a brace post diagnoses it was thought to have been self corrected. Growing up I do not remember having pain or noticing anything different. It was after I ran at a track and field event in middle school that someone watching in the stands pointed out my different gait (they worked in healthcare) to my mom. This began the process of being diagnosed with moderate to severe hip dysplasia for a second time.

After meeting with an orthopaedic surgeon at the age of 12 it was decided that I needed to undergo a pelvic and femoral osteotomy on my right side. On August 22nd, 2013 the surgery was performed and deemed successful. After using a wheelchair, walker, crutches, one crutch, and then a cane I eventually started to walk without any aid during February of 2014. After a few more months of recovery I returned to normal life!

However, during the summer of 2018 my left hip began to give me trouble. Overtime I developed bursitis in both of my hips, arthritis in my left knee and watched my overall health begin to deteriorate. At 18 years old getting out of bed, driving, picking up groceries at the grocery store, etc. became difficult to the point where more often than not I could not do it. I was declared a candidate for a periacetabular osteotomy in Calgary, Alberta but unfortunately due to the backlog of elective surgeries from the second wave of covid-19, the waitlist became terribly long.

On November 27th, 2020 I chose to have a full left hip replacement. My surgery was deemed essential and I was able to finally have the operation that I had waited over two years to have. It is currently January 14th, 2021 as I write this and I could not be more excited to start living a less painful day to day life.

The emotional, mental, and physical toll that hip dysplasia takes is immeasurable, however, the people that you meet in the waiting rooms, the relationships built with physiotherapists, family doctors, surgeons, and specialists is also like no other. The community will last a lifetime, and rest assured that there will be a better tomorrow on days where the pain seems unbearable.