Sadie's Limb Lengthening #1 and #2

At 3 days old, Sadie was diagnosed with a very rare limb deformity called Congential Femoral Deficiency (CFD), which basically means deformed hip and short right femur. There is no definite known cause. Sadie is 6 years old and has had 5 surgeries, all requiring extended stays in Florida to receive care from Dr. Paley and his medical and physical therapy team at the Paley Institute. The Paley Institute is dedicated to reconstructing and saving limbs for kids with rare limb deformities like Sadie. She will need 3 more rounds of limb lengthening in the future, each time requiring us to live in Florida instead of our home in Ohio for months at a time and travel back and forth often as she undergoes treatment. At skeletal maturity, Sadie's predicted difference in her legs is over 9 INCHES!!! So far, we gained about 1 inch with Superhip2 surgery in 2014 and 3 inches in limb lengthening in 2017 but have a long road ahead.



Our limb-lengthening costs in 2017 equaled over $24,000 in travel and medical expenses in addition to what was covered by insurance. More than half of all of her physical therapy sessions required (over 100!) are NOT covered by our insurance. In order to undergo these surgeries and live in Florida during the intensive recovery and physical therapy that follows Valarie (Sadie's mom) needed to adjust her career and reduce her income by 50% making these expenses combined with everyday life expenses difficult to juggle.




Our entire family has grown tremendously both physically and emotionally throughout the process but there is still much more to come. We truly appreciate the fact that Sadie has inspired people through her strength and would love to be supported as we continue on with our adventure of giving Sadie equal length legs to walk on.


Thank you so much for your support!