Congenital Femoral Deficiency
A malformation of the right femur was detected at the 23 week anatomy scan, up until this point the pregnancy had been easy and uneventful. This news came as a shock and we were devastated. We immediately began researching orthopedic specialists and were so lucky that a family friend referred us to Dr. Feldman who began seeing our son William when he was a newborn. Dr. Feldman confirmed the diagnosis of Congenital Femoral Deficiency and through the years has guided us on every step of the process. When William was younger he was very anxious and frightened of going to the doctor and Dr. Feldman always took the right approach with him and when making clinical decisions he considered William’s emotional development which has contributed so much to the success of William’s case.
William has been lucky that his limb length difference has never held him back or affected his confidence or made him ask himself “why me?” He has always been so accepting of it and in a lot of ways it has made him stronger and more resilient. This is the case of all of the remarkable children we’ve seen through the years at Dr. Feldman’s office in NYC and at the Paley Institute.
When Dr. Feldman moved from NYC to the Paley Institute we had to follow him, there was no question about that. William had his first surgery in December 2017 when he was 8 years old and although it ended up being a more major surgery than we anticipated, it went extremely well with no complications and he handled it so well working with Dr. Feldman and his incredible team. William underwent a minor outpatient surgery in September 2019 and we made the decision then that William would be ready - both physically and emotionally - for the actual limb lengthening in December 2020.
We are so excited to share that William finished his leg lengthening in March 2021 and his total limb discrepancy has been fixed. He arrived at the Paley Institute in December 2020 with a 5 cm difference and left with two legs of equal length! There were no complications and Dr. Feldman provided guidance and support along the way with the whole team at Paley. We were all so amazed with how well William did and the miracle of having his legs be the same length after 11 years working towards this goal. William and Dr. Feldman are heroes!
Melissa and Paul
William’s Mom and Dad
