Patient Stories

Heather’s Story

In the early 90’s, my wife had given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Two days later, when she was getting ready to be discharged, the doctor walked in and said I have bad news and just blurted out that our daughter would never walk because she was born with her hips dislocated and then walked out without any help as what to do for our child! Needless to say, we were devistated! Luckily, a nurse then came in and gave us some options and said good luck.

We took our daughter home and made an appointment for an orthopedic doctor to see our daughter. At the appointment, he gave us a traction harness to put our daughter in to try and form her hip joints . After a few months, they realized that wasn’t working so they put her into a cast with her legs spread, again, to try and help her hip bones to form around the joint. The looks we received from people when they saw our daughter in a half body cast was horrifying.

For them to see a baby in a half body cast was basically them calling us bad parents for allowing something that major to happen to our child! We eventually started saying she was born with dislocated hips and their looks of anger turned to empathy. We then moved to Florida where my wife found some great doctors. She learned to crawl with her cast and even pulled herself up onto the coffee table with her cast on!

Finally, after many surgeries and being in traction for months at the same facility that Larry the Cable Guys son, her cast came off! A couple of months later while at home with my daughter, I watched her pull herself up onto the couch to stand up, she was across the room from me and I said come to Daddy. She turned, looked down at the floor, then looked at me and smiled. She put one foot out, then another, leaned forward and more like wobbled than walked but she made it to me! I was brought to tears and crying and so happy that my daughter who they said would never walk, just walked to her daddy! My wife came home and I told her what happened and we cried some more!

After that day, we couldn’t get her still! She grew up to play baseball, twirl baton, run and play just like any other child! Now, she is a young adult who is in graduate school to become a therapist. There is hope people, you just have to have faith! I hope this story helps someone out there that’s going though the same thing we went through. Good luck to all and remember, you’re not alone!