My brave Rocco is walking tall after four years
MUM’S JOY AFTER TREATMENT CORRECTS SON’S CLUB FOOT
A LITTLE boy is celebrating after completing more than four years of treatment to correct his ‘club foot.’
Rocco Wain, four, was born with his left foot turned acutely inwards due to a condition known as talipes.
At first his mum and dad, Katie Gannon and John Paul Wain, feared their son may never walk or play out like other children.
But after years of wearing corrective boots, the Wythenshawe youngster’s treatment has been successful.
Rocco did a sponsored walk at the weekend to celebrate.
Talipes, or club foot, is a relatively common condition affecting around one in every 1,000 babies born in the UK and is a deformity of the foot or ankle.
When Rocco was born, his left foot was turned inwards and at just threeweeks-old he began treatment to correct it.
As a newborn baby he wore full leg casts before being given boots to move the position of his feet.
At times Rocco would have to wear the boots for up to 23 hours a day with just one hour for a bath and playtime in the evening.
Katie, 31, from Bench Hill, said the talipes was a constant worry, but Rocco never complained.
“When they told us at the scan there was something wrong I burst into tears,” she said.
“I had heard of clubfoot, but I didn’t really know what it meant.
“All the way through the treatment I worried Rocco might not be able to walk or play out like other kids.
“But he’s coped with it really well. It’s just became a normal part of his life. I would say come say ‘come on it’s time for your bath’ and he would know that was his playtime.
“Sometimes he would ask for the boots off in the morning. But he never really complained. He amazes me and I’m so proud to be his mum.”
Katie and John Paul thought their son was going to have to wear his boots until he was five.
But last month specialists at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital’s Ponseti clinic gave Rocco the all clear.
The little United fan will have to go back to the clinic for check-ups, but he can now play football like other children his age. He also boxes.
“They advise for them to do as much sport as possible to keep his legs stretched,” said mum-of-two Katie.
Katie and John Paul, who have another baby girl called Miley, are fundraising for the children’s hospital to say thank you.
Katie added: “They have done so much for Rocco already and he will always need their support.”
Rocco and his boxing coach Steve Egan led the sponsored walk to celebrate the end of his treatment.
The one-mile walk, yesterday, started at Jimmy Egans Boxing Club and finished at Wythenshawe Cricket Club.
To donate, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/thesebootsrmade4walkin.
See video at: manchestereveningnews. co.uk