Alysa was diagnosed with clubfeet during our first ultrasound. When she was born we discovered she also had ABS. It caused her to lose all the toes on one foot, two on the other and part of 3 of her fingers (including half of one of her thumbs). We even noticed after having surgery to release her Achilles Tendons (for her club feet) that there was a mark above her ankle on one side- and soon discovered it was from a band that had broken, otherwise she wouldn’t have her foot.
Alysa is 2 years old now, and you’d never know what she’s been through at first glance. She is the most amazing little girl and has overcome so much! At first when she was born, the doctors weren’t sure what had caused the loss of her digits. Even to this day, we have doctors come into our room in large numbers asking to see, since they have only read about ABS in text books. With a lot of work and the overwhelming support of the staff at Shriner’s hospital, against all odds, our baby is walking and even running! It took awhile and a lot of physical therapy to get her to be able to balance. But she’s never let it stop her for a second! She’s opened our eyes and made us realize what’s really important in life. And we thank god for the opportunity to help such a sweet angel get her wings and fly. It’s been a hard road and I’m sure we have a lot ahead of us! But we wouldn’t change it for the world!
Lisa & Ryan
