Angie's Story

My daughter Mattea was born with bilateral club feet. She has just turned three and has had 4 rounds of serial castings, a tenotomy, 3 diff pairs of boots and bar, now AFO's, and we were just told she now needs to have a more invasive surgery. We have wonderful doctors at SICKKIDS Hospital, but we are now considering getting another opinion. How were you able to get treatment at Shriners / ? We are not members

I was 21 weeks pregnant when we found out that our daughter had a club foot (right foot) we were so shocked and upset and the worse thing we done was read stories on the internet! we had another scan at 22 weeks to check that is was only 1 foot and we couldn't believe it that the doctor offered us an abortion! I was so upset to think that someone would even say that to me considering club foot in a minor thing and can be fixed, our daughter is now 14 weeks old and has had 6 casts already and prob will need another 4 as its not stretcing as well as he first thought, she will also have to have a small op the clip the tendons then go back into cast for 2 weeks, its such a stressful time to see her so upset each week when being pulled about! The ponseti method is working well and look forward to the day she takes her forst steps! I have great family support and that really does help, us mums need a cuddle after all. I will update when we get further on with the treatment, I am happpy to email pics across to anyone going through the same thing. good luck xx

We are 21 weeks pregnant with a little girl. We were told last week that her left foot is clubbed. I am waiting on the results of my quad-screen to ensure she does not have trisomy 18 or any other issues. The wait is killing me, it is all I think about. Now I found out the doctor messed up the test order and it will be more time to wait for the results. I have researched everywhere to try to find the % of children that have club foot and other problems. Does anyone know where I can get this information or know any more about it? I am so worried, if anyone has any information it would be greatly appreciated.

My daughter, Izabelle is a week old and has already had her first casting. It's very nice to hear other stories from parents that have been through all this with their child. Izzie is doing very well with the cast but it's nice to hear stories of the after-effect. It's comforting to hear of children that are active and can function completely normal. I know as a parent, it's harder for me to watch than it probably is for her at all! I'm just so thankful that it is something that can be corrected and taken care of at such an early age!

You are all not alone. My son is 25 months old and was born with bilateral talipes, (both feet clubbed). When I found out at the 20 week scan, my husband and I were very frightened, however I hope to reassure you all that it really isn't that bad. My son started walking (running!!) at 21 months, however both his dad and I didn't walk until we were 18 months and we didn't have the condition. He had five castings in five weeks, an achillies tenotomy, Mitchell braces 23 hours a day for three months and will wear his brace at night until he is four. The best piece of advice I can give is don't read too many horror stories. My son is so used to his brace that it doesn't bother him at all at night, he rolls over, get up, even gets out of bed (he is in a bed now as his baby brother has the cot - born without talipes). Find a great orthopaedic surgeon as you will have a relationship with them for many years to come. My son sees our doctor once every 6 months for all of 5 minutes. He is doing everything that any other toddler is doing, talipes has not interfered with his life one little bit.

hi Angie Our beautiful daughter cali-ann is 7 months old and she was born with club feet, I was reading your story and it just made me feel alot happier to know Lilly can walk and run, in the back of my mind i think to myself sometime i hope cali-ann will be able to walk and run, reading this put my mind at ease thank you

oh wow that is totally amazing :)