Life-changing Orthopedic Procedure at El Paso Children’s Hospital

Magali and her husband were extremely excited as they awaited the birth of their third son Pablo. During her pregnancy, no one told her that there was something going wrong with Pablo’s right leg. “In every ultrasound, he looked just fine.” Said Pablo’s mother, Magali Mendez. “It was until he was born that doctors told me he had a malformation on his right foot.”

Pablo was born with Fibular Hemimelia, a birth defect resulting in the fibular bone missing, also affecting the length of the leg. Even more distressing, Pablo also had what is known as a club foot, Pablo’s case was so severe, that his foot was pointing backwards.

Two months after he was born, Pablito’s parents took him to see a doctor. They applied a cast to see if that would correct it, but nothing happened. One of the doctors they saw recommended his leg be amputated. The Garcia family decided to take Pablo to the borderless giving annual clinic. During this clinic, Pablo met Dr. Amr Abdelgawad, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at El Paso Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Amr Abdelgawad explains about Pablito’s case . “That was a very tough case. He literally had one foot pointing forward and one foot pointing backwards – and that is not an exaggeration –  that’s how he walks. When you see him, it really is very impressive.” Dr. ABD as he is known decided to do two surgeries: one to correct the position of the foot; this surgery took three hours. And immediately after, another surgery: to lengthen the leg.

Following the surgery, Pablo needed to wear special positioning rings around his leg, which allowed his leg to grow faster and eventually be the same size as the left side. During this time, he entered kindergarten, and he even participated in a school dance.

After wearing the rings for six months, doctors removed the device and wrapped his leg in a cast to continue correcting the position of his foot. After two months, it was time to remove the cast.

For the first time in his life, Pablo can now see his both feet pointing in the same direction, both his legs are now the same size. He is receiving physical therapy in Juarez to start walking normal again. Just one surgery was the difference for Pablo between having a normal life and losing his right leg.