The mum of a seven-year-old girl who has undergone almost 12 hours of surgery this summer is launching an awareness campaign about the condition she has.
Emily Cooke’s parents had no idea she had a condition called developmental hip displasia, which is usually detected in babies shortly after they are born.
“We had never heard of this and if it had been picked up when Emily was a baby she wouldn’t have needed major surgery,” said her mum Amanda.
A pupil at St John the Baptist School in Spalding, where her mum is a teacher, Emily is currently in a plaster cast from the waist-down after two major operations at Lincoln Hospital.
“She had a really subtle limp which got worse and she started standing on tip-toe on her right leg,” said Amanda. “We took her to a GP who said there wasn’t any issue, but she got worse and we got a referral.
“We saw the consultant and he said straight away that it was displasia and an X-ray confirmed it.”
In Emily’s case, the ball joint of her right hip was not positioned in the right place and the bone had worn itself a new socket above the correct one.
She underwent a seven and-a-half hour total reconstruction of the joint in June, which left a 4cm difference in the length of her legs.
At a three-week check, it was decided the joint needed repositioning, another four hour operation removing and repositioning screws and plates took place and Emily is currently in a special cast to keep the joint stable.
Prior to the diagnosis, Emily was physically active and enjoyed all sorts of sports and activities with her six-year-old sister Sophie.
“If we had known what to look for then Emily would have been diagnosed so much earlier. The surgeon said he rarely saw it as most children are sorted before they are three – without surgery,” said Amanda.
Emily, who will need more surgery as she gets older, is now keeping busy raising money for the Steps charity which helps children with lower-limb issues.
She has designed and created drinks coasters to both raise awareness and money. In the first day there were around 80 orders from supporters.
“We really want to raise awareness of this so other parents might spot it earlier,” said Amanda.
The family has also been stunned by the cost of transporting Emily by a wheelchair accessible taxi, as she can’t get in a car.
“We live two minutes from the school and Emily wanted to go on the last day of term – it cost £15. We also wanted to take her to Baytree and it would have cost £30. It’s really expensive and if it wasn’t for Call Connect, which was £7, we wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere,” said Amanda.
“The taxi firms said that the extra cost was because of the time it took to load and unload a wheelchair. It takes no time at all,” she added.
Call Connect is the on-demand bus service which operates in the county and has accessible vehicles for wheelchair users of all ages.
Orders for Emily’s coasters can be made via a JustGiving page – ‘Emily’s Cute Coasters.’
