As many of you know, my 13- year old nephew, Lukas has a rare congenital birth defect called fibular hemimelia. Fibula hemimelia is a deficiency where all or part of the fibula is missing. This can also affect the upper extremities, including the hands and fingers. In Lukas's case, he is missing all his fibula and has missing fingers on both hands. The missing fibula has caused his leg to be shorter than the other.
They have avoided amputation, by choosing to have leg lengthening. Leg lengthening is an extremely detailed surgery which will allow his legs to be the same length. The family went through his first lengthening on September 2008, when Lukas was 5. On April 18th, 2017, Lukas we will be having his second (and we believe his final) leg lengthening surgery and ankle reconstruction. The doctor will go in and break his tibia bone, then attach two internal nails that use a magnet device to separate the bone over 90 days. He will be attending physical therapy daily and weekly appointments with the doctor to complete the lengthening process.
This is a very expensive, tiring, exhausting, long journey Lukas and his family must go through. My sister (Torrie), her husband (Matt) and their 5-year-old son (Logan) must temporarily move down to Florida for 3-4 months, where they will get an apartment to stay while Lukas recovers. We all know how expensive it can be to pay an additional expense of an apartment, food and travel. My family and I are kindly asking for donations to help them in this tough time.
https://leglengtheningjourney.shutterfly.com/