Rebeccah's Story
Hi. My daughter, Shelley, emailed you last week and encouraged me to write. My youngest daughter, Rebeccah, Has just finished her third lenghthening by Dr. Paley and of course our experiences would fill a book and are much too numerous for an email! I guess the main thing I want to say is that Dr. Paley has been the biggest support through all of her life. We saw him in California at a seminar which is a wonderful story in itself and I will save it for later. He gave us hope for our daughter where no one else did. She was 8 months old at the time and we were encouraged to amputate before she was one by eight different doctors across the country. God gave her a perfect foot and it was hard to believe that was our answer. Rebeccah is now 11 and has had 4 Ilizarovs and two Ortho Fixes. It has not been an easy road but one none of us regret. Her foot on her right leg came to her knee of the left leg when she was born. She is now only 6 inches off the ground. At birth, she was estimated to be 22 inches at maturity difference. There are still doctors in this country who say that it is impossible to obtain that much length but I have complete confidence in Dr. Paley and trust his decisions. This has taught me that not all doctors have the best interest of my child in mind but he cares for her which helps a lot. He admits to not having all the answers and on two occasions he had us meet him at seminars where Prof. Ilizarov was to see if he agreed with the treatment he was planning for Rebeccah. What a loss when Prof. Ilizarov died! Dr. Paley made the comment recently that Rebeccah will hold the western hemisphere record for most lenghth when he finishes which is not quite the distinction I would like to have for her! But he has the confidence and the knowledge to accomplish it. There have been many complications and things he realized he should have done a little differently but at least younger children are benefitting from that now. The biggest success we have had next to the lenghthening is meeting a lot of wonderful people through our daughter and being able to support ones beginning and get support from others in the same situation as us. Dr. Paley has a wonderful team and the most important for the children is the Child Life representative. Rebeccah has never been frightened at clinic or going into surgery because she makes it a big game and play time. She thought for a long time that she went to clinic to play with Marilyn and just happened to see Dr. Paley. Of course, living in Alabama and traveling to Baltimore has not been easy but we have a wonderful doctor here who went with us to see Dr. Paley and even went to Russia to train with him so we are fortunate in having someone to follow her here. The same with therapy. Our therapist went to Baltimore and learned what she needed to do and has treated her from infancy. Well, that is a very brief summary and I would love to share more or talk with anyone with any questions. Thanks! Mims Adams
If you have questions or just want to talk, send an e-mail to Mims at cadams@mindspring.com