Name

Name : Shelby Virginia Canady (Mother - Jennifer Sykes)

Child: 13 years old

Location: Watha, NC

Area(s) affected: Right leg

Personal history:

Shelby was diagnosed at age 5 or 6, but was misdiagnosed at 2 months. The doctors thought it was a lymph node issue, and it would resolve itself. A very observant internal medicine doctor noticed her leg, and asked if he could look at it (he was treating my son at the time). He wrote the word "melorheostosis" on a piece of paper, and asked me if I knew what that was. Of course I didn't, and he referred us to an orthopedic specialist. The local orthopedist sent us to Chapel Hill, who told us there wasn't anything we could do about it. Meanwhile, Shelby's right leg was not growing as fast as her left one. This was causing pain in her back, and her hips were out of alignment. We corrected the discrepancy with a shoe lift (started with one inch and is now an inch and a half), but she was still in pain. The chiropractor helped somewhat, but referred us to a sports medicine clinic. They referred us to Dr. Fitch at Duke, who recommended growth plate removal surgery on her left leg (the good one). Shelby had a successful surgery on May 23, 2008, and it appears that her right leg is catching up with the left one, and she's not having as much pain. Dr. Fitch Thinks that when Shelby is done growing, her leg discrepancy will be a half an inch or less.

We would love to hear if anyone else had had this surgery and if it has worked. Feel free to email us any time.

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