(Continued from Ponseti Parent Testimonials)

    At the time we brought Allison home (from China) she was walking, running, and jumping
    on her untreated clubfeet at 34 months old. She amazed us!  Allison literally walked on
    the tops of her feet with her feet angled backwards.



















    Before we traveled to bring her home I began researching doctors. Our quest was to find
    a doctor who had experience treating older children who had actually walked on their
    clubfeet before treatment. We knew it would be a challenge in America because we treat
    our clubfeet children from birth.

    Our search led us out of state to a doctor that we felt could successfully treat her as he
    had treated many other older children and used the Ponseti Method on the infants he
    cared for. This doctor had successfully treated an eight-year old boy from Mexico with
    clubfeet like Allison's and he had treated many other older untreated clubfoot children as
    well.

    Over the phone and again at our first visit he said he could not use the casting
    method I was hoping for with her because she was too old, as it only worked for the
    babies. We had heard this from other doctors as well. He said she could only be corrected
    through surgery (the first surgery they would need the O.R. for the day) and said we
    should wait 6 months before we did this to give her time to adjust to her new world, her
    new family, and learn more of the English language to communicate
    her needs better in the hospital.

    We asked if waiting for surgery would do any damage to her feet and they said absolutely
    not, look at her now how well she walks, runs, and jumps and all. Unfortunately we
    believed them. After our second visit back,
    several months later, my mother's intuition told me something was not
    right and I began researching doctors again.

    After many more phone calls, lots of late nights of research again,
    meeting with our local family doctor, calling a local Ponseti trained doctor here again that
    couldn't help us either, and feeling totally alone and disheartened in my search I finally
    came across a list of Ponseti trained doctors. I e-mailed many of them and only three of
    these doctors in the country that I contacted had experience treating older children. They
    were all so generous with their time, calling me back quickly and answering all of my
    questions. All three doctors felt confident the Ponseti casting
    method would work for her with minimal surgery. My husband and I were elated as we
    finally had the answers that we had been praying for all along. At this point we were
    leaning towards traveling to one of these doctors, Dr. Dobbs in St. Louis, Missouri.

    In the meantime, her original doctor we had traveled to called us to discuss the severity of
    her case and said he felt she might possibly end up being an AMPUTATION case
    even after all the surgeries they had planned for her because her case was so
    severe. I knew this was not right and was glad I made the decision to find another doctor
    prior to this information.

    At this point, I thought to myself, "This is crazy, here I'm making sure all of these doctors
    are trained in the Ponseti Method, why not call the person directly that developed this
    method to make sure we are making the right decision this time before we travel to
    another doctor out of state again and find out we could still be in the wrong place?"

    So I looked up his number and called him (Dr. Ponseti)  myself. I really didn't know
    anything about him at this point. I just knew I wanted to talk to the doctor that developed
    this method to get some guidance on Allison's treatment. I was amazed that he took my
    call right then and we discussed Allison's situation for about an hour. I told Dr. Ponseti
    about the doctor we had decided to change to and Dr. Ponseti felt this doctor was a very
    good choice for Allison. It ends up that Dr. Dobbs studied under Ponseti for many
    years and he is absolutely phenomenal. I then asked Dr. Ponseti if I could e-mail him
    some pictures of her feet before our consultation and he said,

    "No, don't waste your time as I know more from feeling and manipulating the child's foot in
    my hands." With that statement I knew he was actually the doctor we needed and at this
    point I wanted the doctor that had the most experience and Dr. Ponseti being 91 years old
    at the time of course had my vote.

    I then asked him if he would treat her and he said yes.

    I couldn't believe it. (Little did I know he says yes to everyone.) He was shocked her
    original doctor told us we could wait 6 months for treatment. He knew waiting for treatment
    was very bad, especially for her as active as she was and given her age. It wasn't long
    before I realized how right he was. Four days after talking to Dr. Ponseti, my daughter,
    son, and I flew out to Iowa to start the most amazing medical transformation I've ever
    witnessed. I was in total awe of Dr. Ponseti and his staff. He loves children and was so
    amazing with Allison. She did GREAT with all the cast
    changes.

    We stayed in Iowa for three months while she had her casts changed
    usually every 4-5 days by Dr. Ponseti. I felt like I was witnessing a miracle unfold one
    cast change at a time. Allison did very well with having her legs casted for so long and
    cruised around in her little wheelchair at the age of 3.5 years old entertaining people
    wherever we went. Wearing the casts had very little affect on her life, as she still did
    everything she did before just with a little different flare. She could crawl up and down the
    stairs, ride a tricycle, get on and off furniture, stand up in her casts, and she even figured
    out how to walk a little in them. After 17 cast changes and a 2.5 hour surgery (which
    was a tenotomy and ATTT on both feet) at the end done by Dr. Morcuende (who
    travels the world teaching doctors the Ponseti Method), Allison had beautiful straight feet.
    She was in casts for almost 5 months so she had to relearn how to stand and walk again,
    but did it well and was running around in no time. And this time she was running and
    walking with sandals and light up shoes that she could only dream about wearing before.

    Prior to treatment her feet were so turned and twisted that I had
    to have special booties custom made for her to wear. She
    would always ask me if she could wear sandals and I would
    just say, "Someday when you are a little bigger you'll be able to
    and then Mommy will buy you the most beautiful pair of
    sandals you've ever seen!"

    When Allison got her final casts off after 5 months I had a cute little pair of
    sandals she had picked out with me during the summer and we put them
    right on her feet. She was so proud and wore them everywhere in the
    middle of winter in Iowa, even sleeping with them the first week.
    It was amazing!

    Allison's right foot was very severe and Dr. Pirani from Canada (that goes to Africa one
    month each year to help clubfoot kids) came and looked at her feet during one of her cast
    changes in Iowa. He concurred with Dr. Ponseti about how stiff her right foot was and said
    even with all the older children he treats in Africa he had never felt a foot as stiff as
    Allison's. He said most of the feet he worked with were more flexible like her left foot.

    Well needless to say, shortly after she got out of her 5 months of
    casting we did discover a problem with the right foot that developed
    in a short period of time and they did have to go back 10 months
    later and do an osteotomy of the lower tibia on the right leg to
    overcome the problem with her foot this last October.

    At first this was scary to me as this was everything we had tried to avoid, but when I
    questioned Dr. Ponseti and Dr. Morcuende more and did more
    research I realized this was the best option. Now her feet are perfect and still pain free.
    She has +20 degrees dorsiflexion on the left foot and +5-10 on the right foot where the
    osteotomy was done. She is now running, jumping, and doing everything again with no
    pain or limits. Our family and friends just marvel at how great and normal her feet look. It's
    amazing. You can hardly see her scars, which are so small anyways.

    Dr. Ponseti's method of treatment is created miracles for children
    all over the world. To watch him mold Allison's feet with each
    casting was amazing. This casting minimized the amount of surgery
    needed and that was so important to us. Now our daughter will be
    able to do anything she dreams as she grows up because she will not
    be limited due to painful feet. I cringe every time I think of what
    could have happened if we had stayed with the original clubfoot
    doctor during that time. However, now the good news is that these
    same doctors have discovered the miracle of the Ponseti method for
    older children after seeing what it did for Allison and hearing of
    our great results in Iowa. They have now changed their approach
    with the older children and do castings first no matter what a
    child's age is before ever taking them to surgery.

    While in Iowa I had the privilege of meeting two men who had
    both been treated by Dr. Ponseti as babies. One in 1952 and one in
    1956 and they are both very active today with pain free feet. Both are avid runners, with
    one of the gentleman training to run marathons.

    That to me is a true testament to the effectiveness of the Ponseti
    Method for treating clubfeet. There are many doctors worldwide who
    are trained in his method. The most important thing when choosing
    your doctor is to educate yourself on the Ponseti Method so you know
    that your doctor is following it 100% and not deviating from it in
    anyway. Trust your own instincts as a parent as there are some
    doctors that claim to be doing the Ponseti Method and not following
    the protocol 100% therefore not getting as positive results as they
    could.

    My life is richer today due to Allison and also the people we've met in our journey to
    correct her clubfeet. Sometimes I'm in awe of the blessings we've been given since we
    brought Allison home. I feel privileged to be her mother!

    Sincerely,
    Joyce
    Proud Mommy to Allison, bcf, home with her family in 2004 at age 34
    months



    Here are some clubfoot links below that some of you might find
    interesting:

    http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/medicaldepartments/ortopaedics/clu bfeet/index.html

    http://members.tripod.com/ponseti_links-ivil

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nosurgery4clubfoot

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/clubfoot
Allison's Clubfoot
Story:
Where Spain and China Meet.

From a predicted foot amputation to
wearing fancy sandals, this is a truly
amazing success story where one little girl
adopted from China  meets an old Spanish
doctor 90 years her senior
...their paths crossed in a little place called
Iowa City, Iowa U.S.A. where
clubfoot changed their lives forever.
Allison's clubfeet, before and after treatment by the miracle worker, Dr. Ponseti.
Allison's clubfeet prior to treatment.
Treatment by Dr. Ponseti
Boating with friends while
wearing the serial casts.
Allison participates in the 2nd Annual
Ponseti Clubfoot Races!
After her ATTT surgery casts came off
Allison has the buttons on her feet as
Brian did - and bottom photo, the
buttons are removed.
Allison's dream of wearing sandals
comes true as Dr. Morcuende helps
her put them on.
We can only wonder what is going
through her mind as she stares down
at her corrected feet, no longer
deformed, no longer a disability thanks
to the amazing care from Dr. Ponseti
and all the other doctors and staff at
the clubfoot clinic in Iowa City, Iowa.

I said it before and I'll say it again:

We Love You Dr. Ponseti!!!
For help in finding financial assistance to help defray the
costs during the process of adopting a special needs
child from outside of America, please feel free to contact
Joyce for ideas, support and advice at  :         
lvsandals@netzero.net