Royal Children’s Hospital prosthetics room is where the magic happens
It is a unique team that can take a diagnosis for heartbreak and turn it into a prescription for hope but The Royal Children’s Hospital Limb Difference Clinic is doing just that for young patients, using ingenuity, creativity and perseverance.
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It is a magic team that can take a diagnosis for heartbreak and turn it into a prescription for hope. The limb difference clinic takes loss — a missing limb detected on a prenatal scan, or an amputation needed after an accident or cancer diagnosis — and creates the chance for these children to do just what their peers are doing — and often so much more.
This is the factory floor where Paralympians are made.
Walk the allied health therapy rooms on level one at the Royal Children’s Hospital and you will see children, tongue-out in concentration, trying out their prosthetic device. From the look on their face, they can already imagine how their new leg or foot, a new device for them to hold a bike handle or riding reins, will help them do the things their friends are doing.
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It was clear four-year-old Sebastian Wilkins could already picture himself sitting in his future prep class room when prosthetist Phoebe Thomson showed him his latest prosthetic leg last week.
The four-year-old’s latest leg — his sixth — is the first he has had with a knee joint. It will allow him to sit on a chair with both feet on the floor when he starts school next year.
It has been a monumental technical challenge to develop a leg with enough stability.
Sebastian has just 5cm of his right thigh bone remaining — the highest amputation the RCH prosthetics team has come across.
Born at 27 weeks and weighing just 890g, Sebastian had his leg amputated when he was two weeks old to save his life from an invading infection after the leg was injured during pregnancy.
“He’s just started asking questions about his leg, a bit earlier than I expected,” said his mum, Mel.
“He asks, ‘Will my leg grow back? Why can’t I have two legs? Why did you let them take my leg?’
“It breaks my heart, but with this new leg he will look like everyone else in the class — something that’s becoming more important to him.”
A team of eight specialists work together to help each child, including two prosthetists and orthotists who design, fit and monitor each device.
A physiotherapist and occupational therapist help the children develop the physical skills needed to use each device, made by the prosthetic technician.
An orthopaedic surgeon performs amputations and revision surgeries, while a social worker helps the family with counselling and advocacy.
And given each child is different, there is no one off-the-shelf product that will be the perfect fit. It takes ingenuity, creativity and perseverance to get the right answer for each child at every age.
For Zara Bond, the limb difference clinic has helped confirm that she belongs.
Trina Bond remembers vividly the heartbreak of watching her daughter checking each doll she played with as a toddler, inspecting their hands. “She would slump down because they all had fingers. She was aware of it,” Mrs Bond said.
With nothing on the market and getting little help from doll restorers, she turned to the RCH.
Prosthetist and orthotist Meleita Finnegan and prosthetic technician Leo Mouratidis took Tamika the doll to their workshop to make a series of alterations so she looked just like her owner.
“She could not stop hugging it,” Mrs Bond said. “They’ve said anything you can think of that she needs, we will come up with a way of creating it for you. It’s an amazing service.”
Zara received a sewing machine for her sixth birthday and she learnt to sew so she and Tamika could wear matching outfits, like the handmade skirt and bow in which they are pictured. Zara has had a prosthetic device made so she can ride a bike or scooter, and the team will make a left-handed pick device so she can play guitar, further confirming that Zara can do anything other kids can do — an ethos that has firmly rubbed off on the grade one student. When a classmate asked on the first day of school why Zara didn’t have any fingers on her left hand, she stood up confidently in front of the class.
“She tells them: ‘That’s how I was born. When I was in my Mummy’s tummy, one hand grew fingers and one hand didn’t. But it doesn’t stop me doing anything. Watch me, I can do anything you can do’,” Mrs Bond said.
“She amazed us all the time with her enthusiasm to try new things. We just want her to be happy, healthy, confident in who she is and knowing she can achieve anything. It just might be in a different way.”
MAVERICK Gardam is another child who knows he’s on to a winner with his latest prosthetic weapon. The five-year-old, who was born with his left arm stopping just below his elbow, has recently received his second orthotic device — a new design after trial and error last season — that allows him to swing a cricket bat. “He’s enjoyed cricket a lot more this season because he can hit the ball a lot further,” his mum, Shanna, said.
“We never expected this level of support from the limb deficiency clinic. Anything he needs, they’re willing to help out and to try to make things easier for him.”
A MESSAGE FROM ANNE RANDALL
The Good Friday Appeal is extraordinary. It has been such an important event on the Victorian calendar for such a long time. Certainly for me, and I’m sure for most of us, Good Friday has always meant making a donation to The Royal Children’s Hospital.
Maybe it’s organising a function at the local pub, or school, or shaking a tin on Hoddle St, calling and making a donation, or joining
in a feast at work: we all come together as a community to raise funds for the Good Friday Appeal.
I’m sure we all share memories of sitting in front of the TV eating hot cross buns and watching all the Channel 7 personalities. Many of us also share an experience where someone we love needed the care and expertise of our great hospital.
We all have a link to The Royal Children’s Hospital because we all know someone who has needed its help.
Whenever I walk through its doors, I feel that this is a hospital like no other. For this is a place that is built with the love and goodwill of an entire community. Just talking to the staff, I am struck by their dedication and I know that this is a special place where amazing things happen every day. And we can all help. The funds that we raise will help fund vital equipment, research and training.
And we all know that our help matters. It’s a great tradition for the whole state of Victoria — from the smallest of towns to the heart of the city, Victorians find a way to contribute. It’s just what we do. And we do it gladly, for we all know how important it is that our most vulnerable receive the best possible care.
Everywhere I look at the moment I see evidence of the generosity of all Victorians. People give so freely of their time, funds and talents to make sure this hospital remains world-class. There is an army of people working together to fundraise and I thank all of you.
So, today, I encourage you to continue your involvement by coming down to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and joining in all the fun at the Kids Day Out, by making a donation while you watch the telecast at home or by joining in all the activities in your local community.
There are so many ways that you can give for the kids.
Donate at goodfridayappeal.com.au or call 1300 277 325
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