by Judith

I have PFFD [Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency], which means that I have one leg shorter than the other. In my case, this affects my right femur. I have had nine operations since I was three, to improve my leg length, with more still to come!

I've been through operations that involve the surgeons breaking my leg and then putting two or three pins on either side of the break. They then put a frame, called a fixator, on the top of the pins to give support and stability. This can be in place for as long as two years!

My treatment: ups and downs

Twice a day, I have to turn a key in the back of the frame. And the pins have to be cleaned every day until they come out. The first time I had this treatment was seven years ago. It wasn't a very good time for my family, as my youngest sister had just been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.

When they took out the fixator, I went to a disco and managed to twist my femur because it wasn't very strong. I had my second fixator five years ago. This was a fairly successful procedure. When they took the pins out this time, they put my leg in plaster so something similar to last time didn't happen again. Unfortunately, my leg managed to break in plaster and I ended up in hospital for a week.

It isn’t always easy

I had my last fixator two years ago. Everything went fairly well this time, until the last few months when I started to feel really uncomfortable, especially at night. Sometimes my family would even hear me cry and scream out in pain. Finally, last year, the pins came out but this time they found that my hip had dislocated.

I'm currently waiting for more treatment, which should happen by the end of this year or early next year.

Achievement over adversity

Not everything has been bad news though. My mother nominated me for an achievement over adversity award. She didn't tell me, until we got a call back from our local newspaper. They said that they would like my family and I to go to the award ceremony!

We went along on 3rd December, my birthday! The award ceremony went on until late at night. I was starting to think that I wasn't going to get anything when they started to read out the winners for the three newspapers and I won the junior award!

Danny La Rue presented the award to me. I was so happy that I cried. And, because it was my birthday, I got a big bit of cake! My family are the most important thing to me, I feel so lucky when I look at my family.

This story may have been edited by Children First for Health for editorial and confidentiality reasons only.

For more help and information:

• The charity Steps has more information for people affected by a lower limb condition

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