My Personal Experience with a Child Born with Club Feet

My daughter is now 17 years-old and very happy and healthy. But on the day that she was born, I could not even visualize her reaching the point that she is at today.

I actually did not get to see the condition of my daughter's feet until later in the morning of the day she made her entrance into the world. But when I did finally see them, it was the biggest shock of my life. It felt like the world had come to a complete halt. Both of her feet looked like they had been folded in at the ankles. And when she would bend her knees, the soles of both feet would be flat against the bottom of her diaper. At that point I could not even imagine how I was going to handle taking care of her.
But thinks ended up being not as bad as they seemed.

Between the awesome pediatricians that attended to my daughter and the California Children's Society (formerly known as Crippled Children's Society), I was able to get my daughter into one of the top hospitals in the country...UC Davis Medical Center, located right here in California. She had her first surgery at six months old, and the second occurred when she was two years old. Her feet are in great shape now, although the tendons at the back of her ankle and leg are still a bit tight. But my daughter can walk, run, jump....whatever she puts her mind to.

During the "in between time".....the time between her last surgery and where she is today.....things were incredibly challenging at times. She had to wear casts for about 12 weeks, and then came the leg braces (think Forrest Gump). But once she figured out that she could be mobile with the braces on, there was no holding her back. She wanted to walk everywhere. After she stopped using those, she moved around even more. The first time she ran across the street in the crosswalk, I just stood in the middle of the road crying my eyes out because I was so happy.

Granted there were times of extreme crankiness on her part because of the occasional leg cramps, or her impatience to get somewhere and she couldn't because of her feet. And there was sometimes the occasional grouchiness on my part due to the fact that there were no support groups whatsoever for club foot, and most people didn't even know what the term meant. I had to rely on the doctors for any advice that I needed. But in spite of all of the challenges, and because of the support of my wonderful family, my daughter and I were able to keep going and keep getting stronger.

Having a child with this condition can be a very scary and nerve wracking experience for any parent. For those of you that are going through this type of thing, or even for those who are simply curious, there are many wonderful resources out there that can help. There are always the health care providers themselves that are full of information and advice. Of course there is always the Internet (my personal favorite source). Your insurance company should have staff members that can either give you the advice you need, or point you in the right direction. There is also a very awesome organization called the Shriners of North America. They specialize in helping children, and they are very knowledgeable and very generous in helping out families in need. I can vouch for this because they helped my brother when he was a child, as he was born with one club foot.

Just remember... no matter how bad it all seems in the moment, if you keep your inner strength intact, and you keep the faith, everything will work out.