Success

Blount Disease, Bowlegs Nigeria Dr. Herzenberg, Dr. McClure

Meet Success—literally and figuratively! Dr. McClure and Dr. Herzenberg operated on an 11-year-old boy from Nigeria named Success for treatment of Blount disease in December of 2021. His bowed legs were so severely bowed that he could not walk on his legs and mainly moved by crawling on his knees. His private school asked his parents to transition him to online classes, because they said his crawling was too disruptive. This was heartbreaking for Success whose older siblings had gone to the school.

Success had infantile Blount disease, and his legs were corrected when he was three or four in Nigeria, but the bowing reoccurred. Dr. McClure and Dr. Herzenberg made acute (all at once) corrections using closing wedge osteotomies (bone cuts) and applied external fixators called Taylor Spatial Frames to hold the newly aligned bones in place. By April 2022, just four months later, his bones were fully healed, and his frames could be removed. Success’ legs are now straightened, and he is walking well on his own two feet. Success couldn’t wait to go back to school to see his friends. We were thrilled to get an update a year after Success’ frame removal that he is very happy to be back at school and is enjoying bicycling, He is walking well, and he reports no pain.

As Success’ mother shared, “Words are not enough to express my feelings… my joy. As a mother, seeing your child not be able to do what other kids are doing is heartbreaking…. Now it’s amazing! God, my boy can really be on his feet again…. I don’t know how to express my thanks to Dr. Herzenberg and his team and Sinai.

While Dr. Herzenberg has retired from providing patient care, Dr. Philip McClure and Dr. Shawn Standard are available to treat these conditions.