Born "Different" (Lydia)

My name is Lydia Schroeder. I am now sixteen years old. I believe I was twelve when I started this blog and haven’t been back to it for years so let me catch you up. I have a twin sister named Eliza and two older brothers. When I was born, I had a lot of problems with my left leg. Fibular Hemimelia. For those of you who don’t know, “Fibular Hemimelia is a birth defect where part or all of the fibular bone is missing, as well as associated limb length discrepancy, foot deformities, and knee deformities. Fibular hemimelia (FH) is a very rare disorder, occurring in only 1 in 40,000 births.” that’s the definition, however, no FH patient is the same. In my specific case, I was born with no fibular at all, only four toes, a deformed knee, hip, and ancle, leg length discrepancies, a very slowly growing leg, and a twisted foot. All of this occured in my left leg. My identical twin, Eliza, doesn’t have any leg issues. This is my story. I was born in England with my identical twin sister, Eliza. My parents decided to move to California for various reasons, including my medical issues. I’ve got to hand it to them… my parents looked far and wide for answers concerning my condition, what to do about it, and how it would affect my life. All of the surgeons and doctors they saw took one look at my leg.- and its’ very extensive list of issues – and said that the best and only choice was to amputate my foot somewhere below the knee. (Keeping in mind that this would only solve some of the issues, I would still need surgeries on my hip, knee, and femur) Finally, my parents discovered Dr. Dror Paley; a rising orthopedic surgeon that changed the face of limb lengthening and an expert on FH. He told us that there was another way and that amputation wasn’t the way to go. My first surgery (I believe) was when I was three years old in 2007. It was a super ankle and an eight-plate installation. It was a year later when I had my first lengthening, but I can explain that in more detail later. (see my Fibular Hemimelia page) January 19, 2017