Luke Briggs was born with his right leg fully attached to his back and abdomen.
He suffers from a severe left clubfoot, a spinal hernia and multiple pterygium syndrome, or webbing of the joint on his right hip, knee and left knee.
With time and months of medical attention at Sinai Hospital?s Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, however, doctors say 4-year-old Luke will walk by the time he is 6.
Luke has undergone five surgeries in the last year and a half including open-heart surgery and cleft palette corrective surgery.
Jeane and Paul Briggs, of Falling Waters, W.Va., adopted him from the Ukraine and have made his dreams of walking possible.
Dr. Shawn Standard, an orthopedic surgeon specialized in pediatrics, said it?s not unreasonable to see Luke walking a year from now.
After meeting with four doctors, Standard was the first to not suggest amputating Luke?s legs, said Jeane Briggs, his mother.
“It gave us hope. It?s a whole lot better than dealing with a prosthetic. They would have removed the best part of both of his legs,” she said.
To prepare his legs for walking, Standard attached a Ilizarov device to Luke?s leg June 14. Using this device, Standard gradually straightens Luke?s leg by adjusting the rods that move the bone one millimeter a day.
“One of the reasons I love this machine is that it allows me to do all these incredible corrections and help children,” Standard said.
Luke?s range of motion in his right leg has improved some since his surgery, he said. When the Ilizarov is removed from his leg, Luke will need to wear braces until he is done growing. He also needs a reconstructive nose surgery, on-going pallette surgery and orthopedic correction on his club left foot. He starts speech therapy in the fall.
“We?re on to a good start to getting him a good leg,” said Jeane Briggs.
This orthopedic procedure also involves extending soft tissues, muscles and nerves that are very tight in the leg or arm.
However growing bodies can jeopardize years of progress.
“With children, everything I fix can be undone with growth,” Standard said.
He has spent five years at Sinai, helping children walk.
“This is the biggest limb lengthening institute in the nation, if not the world,” he said.
Standard along with his two colleagues, Drs. Dror Paley and John Herzenberg travel to different countries to treat children. Standard went to Granada, off the coast of Venezula, for two weeks in April.
“We literally have patients as far away as the Middle East, England and all 50 states,” Mike Neely, spokesman for the institute said. “The orthopedic doctors see more than 1,000 surgeries a year.
Bones
» The first attempt to lengthen or realign a bone was in the late 1800s in Italy.
» It took 12 hours for doctors to affix the Ilizarov mechanism to Luke?s leg.
» Three mechanisms help correct limbs: the Ilizarov, the Taylor Special Frame and Orthofix.
» New bone that grows when a limb is lengthened is as strong as the original.
