Personal Stories

My daughter has a prosthesis, but sometimes chooses to use her wheelchair. Is using a wheelchair common for people with PFFD? My daughter is 8 yrs. old. Thank you!

I'm 26 and have PFFD of my right leg. I am going to attempt to make a long story short -- I went to Shriners until I was about 21 where I had all of my surgeries. I had a handful of hip surgeries to build me a ball and socket. I broke some plates, and pins, and screws, but it was eventually successful-ish. Also, I had four lengthenings (three times on my femur, once on the tibia). I don't remember how many centimeters in length I got, but I do remember the doctor telling me "all together that equals about 13 inches".

Hello, My name is Kelly and I was born with bilateral pffd in 1978, my parents were told that I would never walk and be confined to a wheelchair.

I walked when was 3 yrs old much to the drs amazement! I havn't had any surgery as my pffd is severe and it has slowly deteriated with age.. I'm now 33 yrs old, still mobile and have a gorgeous 4 yr old son!!! My pregnancy was a perfect and it caused no problems with my disability.

Description
(PFFD) Proximal femoral focal deficiency is a rare, non-hereditary birth defect that affects pelvis, particularly the hip bone, and the proximal femur. The disorder may affect one side or both with the hip being deformed and the leg shortened.

Mallori was less than 24 hours old, her Mother, holding her close to her heart, soft tears falling down her cheeks. Will she ever Dance?

I'm new to this site and i just happen to be doing a little research on my PFFD. Trying to learn what is and just curious if there were other people out there like me. I'm 33 years old, I have Bilateral PFFD and really don't know to much about it. I also like alot of other people went to Shriners hospital. I started going there i believe around the age of 3. I am 4'10 my left leg is shorter than the other and of course i walk with a limp. i have a twin brother who does not have anything wrong with him.

My daughter is 23 and suffers from PFFD. She was a Shriners patient until the age of 20. She received various suregeries to help with her length and up until a few years ago wore a 1/2 inch built up. For the past year she has began to complain of sever pain in her hip joint (which we were informed by Shriners, would eventually need surgery/replacement).. and has become quite debilitating. We live in Alabama and are searching for a doctor specializing in her condition. We have yet to find anyone.

I am currently 6 months pregnant with a boy. His right femur is half the length of his left femur. He only has one bone in his lower leg, and club foot on both feet. My doctor here in Tulsa has never seen anything like this and doesn't know what to say but "let's wait and see". I have two other children (age seven and four), and every time I see them running, jumping, or climbing, I wonder if my youngest will ever do those things. I haven't told anyone about his condition except my husband. I don't think either of my parents will handle it well.

Hey, My name is Megan Miner....I wrote my story about 3 years ago when I joined and decided it was time to re visit this site and update yall on all the exciting stuff thats happened to me since i left yall for about 2 years. For those who don't know my story, I'll give you the cliff notes version. I am bilateral, class D. When I was a little, the doctors wanted to amputate both of my feet and one doctor Dr. Tosi refused. She said she had a gut feeling that if she moved the mucsles around in my feet that maybe something extrodinary could come out of it.

My daughter was born with unilateral PFFD. It wasn't caught on any ultrasounds, so we were quite surprised when she was born. She is such a delightful little girl and perfect for our family. We're excited to find a community of others with PFFD to learn from and share with. I've started a blog to chronical our journey. Please feel free to visit: www.Elsiesleftleg.blogspot.com

We'd love to hear any comments or advice as we are just at the beginning of the journey. Thanks!

My son Damian was born July 3rd, 2011. Throughout my entire pregnancy I was examined carefully because I have a cardiac pacemaker which I received about 3 months before his conception. I had a lot of ultrasounds and all the tech's and doctors showed a normal healthy pregnancy. My water broke at 3:30am July 2 and daddy and I took off to the hospital anxious, tired, and scared, excited...every emotion. 23 hours later on July 3rd Damian was born only 2 weeks early and a surprising 5lbs 3 ounces. The doctor asked "why is he so small?" I had gained over 50 lbs so we were all shocked.