Vasile
Vasile was abandoned at birth, born with a condition called “Arthrogryposis” which causes crippling in most of those with the disease. His wrists are “malrotated”, so that his hands appeared to be connected to his arms at a different angle and he has club feet, which render and him unable to walk.
Vasile spent the first 15 months of his life in a hospital crib, so had little stimulation or opportunity for movement, which aggravated his condition.
He was discovered by one of F.R.O.D.O.‘s partner organisations in Romania, who brought him to their home in November of 2005. At that time, Vasile began to thrive, gaining enough strength to sit-up, yell, laugh, and with a will of iron, to hop as fast as the other young toddlers could walk. However, the Romanian doctors told us that Vasile would have to have surgery on his feet before he was 2 years of age for any reasonable chance of success.
When F.R.O.D.O. met Vasile, we were impressed with his joy of life, and strength of character, so committed to finding a way to get his surgery completed before his 2nd birthday.
Initial attempts were not good. We met numerous paediatric orthopaedic surgeons who, after examining Vasile’s X-rays, said the outlook was not good. Until we met an extraordinary consultant surgeon from Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, a Miss. Deborah Eastwood.
Miss. Eastwood, with only Vasile’s X-rays and pictures to go on confirmed the diagnosis, but had a different prognosis. She felt that she had a good chance of achieving the degree of surgery necessary to “unwind” his feet and flatten them, giving Vasile the chance to walk. She also agreed to do the surgery on a voluntary basis, for which both F.R.O.D.O. and Vasile will be forever grateful. In this regard, Miss. Eastwood became the first contributing donor to F.R.O.D.O. Medical, the part of F.R.O.D.O. focusing on medical intervention.
Vasile arrived in the U.K. on July 9 th, staying in the home of our founder and his family. He saw Miss. Eastwood and the physiotherapist Miss. Deborah Jackson on July 10 th. On July 14 th, Vasile had surgery at Great Ormond Street. He celebrated his 2 nd birthday in London, in full leg casts.
Here are pictures of Vasile before he had surgery, the day he had his casts removed, and at around 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday September 20 th, which was about 30 minutes after he took his first steps in his life, pushing a “baby size” shopping cart for a little extra support.
Vasile has now returned to Romania and is living once again at our partner organizations home for children. Though he initially found the surroundings strange after a 3 month stint in London , he has quickly re-bonded with his house parents. He is regularly receiving physiotherapy, and please watch the short video to see Vasile walking.
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