Making great strides
Brave boy gets his US operation
“WE hope by the time he turns four, in June, he will be well on the way to being a normal little boy, climbing, playing ... unstoppable.”
This is what William Dickinson’s mum Aimee told the Gold Coast Bulletin last month with just two weeks to raise the remaining $40,000 needed for specialist surgery only available in the US.
So this week it has been heartwarming to watch William make massive strides in Florida following a mammoth fundraising effort over the past year.
The little boy from Maudsland had surgery performed on his leg by renowned Florida surgeon Dr Dror Paley on Wednesday last week.
Dr Paley transplanted bone from William’s hip to his leg to repair a break which never healed due to a rare disorder called congenital pseudarthrosis.
“It was a rough night last night, William thought his legs had fallen off (effects of epidural),” Aimee posted on Facebook just a day after the invasive nine-hour surgery.
“I sat on the end of his bed most of the night rubbing his foot so he could feel that it was still there.
“This morning he was put into a wheelchair and we spent a few hours playing with the toys, his physio today was to spend at least 45 minutes in it – he smashed that!”
Aimee, with help from the Gold Coast community, raised more than $185,000 to fly William to Dr Paley for the surgery.
Despite some pain in his leg, Aimee said William’s toughest challenge was going a week without going to the toilet due to the medication and surgery.
In her latest post, Aimee said she hoped William could begin to learn how to walk over the next three months.
“Hopefully the swelling has gone down by our next appointment on Thursday and we can get his hard cast on and start physiotherapy, teaching him to walk on one leg in a frame for the next three months,” she said.