A toddler was born with backward legs due to the one-in-a-million condition.
Victoria Komada, of Norwich, was born with the tibial bilateral hemimelia – a one-in-a-million birth defect which caused her to have a missing shinbone in her right leg and a shortened one in her left limb.
Her parents Mr. and Mrs. Komada were expecting a baby shortly after they moved to the UK from their native Poland.
Mrs. Komada said: ‘The nurse, she came to me and she said: ‘I’m going to give you your daughter in a minute because she’s got problems with her legs.’
‘I said, ‘what problem with her legs?’ and she said ‘nothing don’t worry’.
Her parents Marzena and Dariusz Komada went to eight specialists and all of them suggested to have both her legs amputated.
‘For me, she needs her own legs, not amputated and prosthetic legs. And I said “no I will not agree to amputate legs, no, no, no”, Mr. Komada said.
They eventually came across an orthopedic surgeon Dr. Dror Paley, who specializes in limb lengthening and reconstruction.
The couple had to set up a fundraising page to raise more than £300,000 for the surgery.
Thanks to the life-changing surgery, Victoria took her first steps after one year.
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‘On Victoria’s right side we [had] to amputate the leg.point 276 |
And the reason is on the right side, where the tibia is completely missing, the quadriceps muscles mostly missing – the functional result’s not going to be great.point 147 | ’ Dr.point 157 | Paley said.point 167 | 1
Mr. Komada said: ‘After surgery was a really hard time for us. She was crying through the pain. She couldn’t sleep at night. But after a week she starts to feel better.’
Victoria’s leg healed two months later. Now, she wears a prosthetic on her right side.
Mr. Komada said: ‘I’ve been waiting so long for that moment. She’s happy now, but later on, she’s going to be very happy. She’s not going to feel as different.’
‘She’s a normal kid, she’s like clever, she’s happy always. I just want her to have a normal life and I know she’s going to have a normal life because she’s a strong girl.’ Mrs. Komada said.