The post Ruby-Grace’s Story appeared first on STEPS Charity ..read more

I was born with severe club foot in both feet in 1995. I was seen by my consultant (Dr Colin Ogilvie) within 24 hours of being born. Dr Ogilvie said he ‘hoped’ they would get me to walk but it was not guaranteed. For the first six months of my life Dr Ogilvie used the Ponseti method to correct my feet, plaster casting them three times a week. After six months I had my first operation and went on to have seven more as a baby. Throughout my childhood, my parents never let my condition define me, ensuring I was active in any way I could be. From an early age my parents got me into swimming and ..read more

Isabelle was born with bilateral hip dysplasia meaning both her hips were fully dislocated. She wasn’t breech, nor do we have any family history of hip problems so when the doctor identified her ‘clicky hip’ at her 6-week check-up, we weren’t particularly concerned. Sadly, We weren’t seen for an ultrasound until she was 5.5 months old due to a hospital computer system error. The delay in her being seen made the diagnosis even harder to accept as generally, the earlier the condition is detected, the easier it is to treat.  She was placed in a Pavlik Harness, but this was abandoned after ..read more

I have been on very long health battle since I last wrote. Unfortunately, due to increased hip pain, I was unable to sit my A-Levels last year; but my school were great and arranged for me to re-sit them this year.   With the increased hip pain, my gait dramatically changed – my right knee kept giving way every time I stepped on it; so, after an appointment with my hip surgeon who was unsure what was happening, I was referred to a neurologist who diagnosed me with a functional gait disorder. Little did I know this was the start of something bigger. With this new diagnosis, I started an i ..read more

My story almost never even had a beginning, it could have been very close to just being an end. A mix up with the months of my due date all the way back in 1991 led to me being born on the 20th of September rather than my early August due date. I ended up being born to an emergency C-section and was very lucky to have been born at all and not to have killed my mum on the way. It was unclear whether it was the extra 6 weeks in the womb that caused my bilateral talipes (two clubbed feet) or if it had been passed on genetically from my mum as she had been born with talipes in one leg. I ended u ..read more

In the summer of 2020, Jay started getting pains in his leg after playing out with his friends, he was developing a limp so we knew something wasn’t right. After discussions about growing pains and possible Leukaemia we took jay to Alder Hey. He was lucky that Professor Perry was on duty that Sunday evening, this was when we found out Jay had Perthes Disease.  Learning about this rare condition was very hard, the information online is horrific and the information out there is very conflicting, most of it was based on American treatments and all were quite dated. We were told Jay would n ..read more

When Fred was 3 he started complaining of pains in his left leg, at first we thought he’d pulled a muscle. He was a typical 3-year-old boy running and jumping off everything. He kept complaining, sometimes of pain in his left knee, and sometimes he had a limp.  We had several trips to the doctors, drop-in and Alder Hey. After about 3 months of being mis-diagnosed with a hip infection, irritable hip, he was diagnosed with Perthes Disease. We were told it was so severe he would need an operation straight away as his movement was so bad. They put us on the waiting list at Alder Hey and tol ..read more

The most levelling realisation as a parent is that everybody, every child, has something going on at some point. For me, I was born with two clubbed feet in 1978. It wasn’t a total surprise when I arrived. There were no scans of course, but my mother and her sister (and latterly her daughter) both had bilateral talipes. However, that’s it; my maternal uncle, brother, sister and my other four cousins were all unaffected. We know of no one from further back in the family tree, neither my two children nor my maternal cousins’ children have inherited it. My feet and ankles were strapped with spl ..read more

“I’ve struggled with hip pain for as long as I can remember. I have loved all sports since being tiny and had a real passion for ballet from the age of 4.  When I was a child/young teen the hip pain I was experiencing was always put down to growing pains.  Into my early 20s the pain became worse but again I thought that it was still growing pains or perhaps I’d overworked myself at the gym. It was in my mid 20s when I was diagnosed with hypermobility giving me a sense of relief in that finally I knew why so many of my joints were so painful. I tweaked the way I did my workouts in t ..read more

We are thrilled to announce our new ambassador, Maggie Alphonsi MBE. Maggie is the face of international women’s rugby, having played rugby for England an impressive 74 times and even won the World Cup. Today she commentates for ITV, BT Sport, Sky Sports and the BBC and is a columnist for the Telegraph. 1000 Foot Challenge We invite you and your family to pledge to walk, run, cycle, scoot, climb or even row a boat for 1000 feet to support Clubfoot Awareness Month this June. Find out more New Ambassador - Maggie Alphonsi MBE 1000 Foot Challenge The post Announcing our new ambassador ..read more