Vania walks again

Vania was 10 when she was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a cancer of the bone most commonly found in young adults. A year later after failed courses of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment saw young Vania lose her left leg. She underwent a hip disarticulation surgery where her entire left leg was amputated including the hip joint where her cancerous tumor lived.

To lose the hip joint takes the struggle to survive for an amputee to the next level. Without the joint a person’s balance is massively thrown off. Vania would need to learn to use her abdominal and pelvic muscles differently in order to walk with a prosthetic. And without any residual limb on that side for a Prosthetist to attach to it’s difficult for a new leg to be properly fit to the body.

After her operation it was 5 years before Vania would be given a first prosthetic leg through the public health system and the limb she eventually received was a poor fitting ‘of the shelf’ type product. It didn’t even have a knee joint, let alone a hip so she essentially had a peg leg with a foot! From the age of 16 until she came across the CMA 10 years later, she would exist with this prosthetic, limping and enduring terrible pain as her body outgrew the limb which had never properly fit her.

Vania who was never in a position to afford a replacement amputation couldn’t believe it when a friend put her in touch with our clinic (CMA) who could give her her very own custom made prosthesis, free of charge. Vania’s quality of life has improved ten fold since she received her new limb from the CMA. She’s a much more active, happy, and confident 26 year old with lots of time to make up for.

By: CMA / FUNPROBO