Memorial Healthwatch Winter 2008
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Gabey is Looking Forward to a Bright Future
Complex Surgeries Help Boy Overcome Multiple Limb Deformities
Eight-year-old Gabriel is quite accustomed to using wheelchairs, crutches and walkers. Born with clubfeet, he was only 6 months old when he had two reconstructive surgeries.
Since then, there have been two more operations to lengthen an abnormally short leg, and one to treat hip dysplasia, a painful deformity of the ball-and-socket joint that can cause permanent disability if not corrected.
Although the recovery has its challenges, Gabey is thriving, thanks to the care of some very special pediatric orthopedic surgeons: Michael Jofe, MD; Randolph Cohen, MD; Neal McNerney, MD; and Stephen Storer, MD, all on the medical staff of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, Memorial Hospital West and Memorial Hospital Miramar.
Working as a team, the surgeons and their support staff provide premier medical treatment and compassionate care for children from the southeastern United States, as well as the Caribbean and South America. “It’s the most caring doctor’s office I’ve ever been in,” says Gabey’s mother Sheri. “When I’m there, I’m never afraid, because I know the doctors are experienced at what they do. I look in their eyes and I know they love their patients. My son wouldn’t be walking if it weren’t for the doctors at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.”
Gabey’s most recent operation was performed by Dr. McNerney, a specialist in the treatment of complex limb deformities and leg length discrepancies. To lengthen Gabey’s right leg, Dr. McNerney first cut the femur, the large bone that runs from the hip to the knee, then surgically inserted several pins into the upper and lower sections of the bone.
Post-operatively, using computer-generated recommendations, Dr. McNerney performed the correction by precisely increasing the distance between the pins over a several-month period. Using this advanced technique, Dr. McNerney is able to achieve more accurate corrections of limb deformities than were possible in the past, and can also adjust the correction in the post-operative period.
With only two or three more operations needed to repair his leg, Gabey looks forward to a young adulthood free of pain and disability.
“Gabey always tells me that I give him love and that his siblings give him strength, but Dr. Jofe gives him the hope that some day the pain will be gone and there’ll be no more operations,” she adds.
“I’m thankful to know a child like Gabey who is brave and cheerful despite all he’s been through,” says Dr. Jofe. “He is an inspiration to all of us who care for him.”
For referral to a physician for your child, please call Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Physician Referral Service toll-free at (866) JDCH-DOC. We’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.