Oscar Passoni-Torres, a Broken Arrow 14-month-old born with a leg deformity, plays with a ball Thursday. Oscar recently received a prosthesis, and his parents are raising money to get a gait trainer to help him learn to walk. CORY YOUNG / Tulsa World
BROKEN ARROW - Oscar Passoni-Torres is a giggly, happy baby.
And he's active, too.
The 14-month-old zooms around his house chasing balls and climbing furniture. But he does it mostly by crawling.
Oscar was born with rare leg deformities called proximal femoral focal deficiency - or PFFD - and fibular hemimelia. His thigh bone is short, and he is missing a calf bone.
Last month, Oscar was fitted with what his mom, Kari Passoni, refers to as a "helper leg." It is part prosthetic leg, part orthosis.
This week, an anonymous donor donated more than $500 through the Hero Network website to help Oscar's parents purchase a gait trainer that will help him learn to walk.
"The gait trainer will help him until he learns to trust the leg," Passoni said.
The prosthesis is just the first in a lengthy - and costly - process that Oscar's parents hope will end with him being able to walk on his own.
Passoni located an orthopedic surgeon in Florida who has a renowned limb-lengthening institute. Dr. Dror Paley has agreed to take Oscar on as a patient and told Passoni that he will be able to lengthen Oscar's leg to a normal length.
The process includes a pre-surgery to rebuild Oscar's left hip, knee and ankle, followed by four limb-lengthening procedures that will last about three months each. When he is 4, 7, 10 and 14, his leg bones will be broken and he will wear a fixator to help them heal and re-grow, except longer.
"It's a painful process," Passoni said.
But she and her husband chose to do it because they want to give Oscar "the best chance to have as close to a normal leg as possible," Passoni said.
"The only reason we would stop is if it's too painful for him," she said.
All these procedures will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Passoni said. The institute in Florida is working with Oklahoma's Medicaid to negotiate a payment plan, she said, because the program usually only pays for in-state doctors.
"But there are no doctors in Oklahoma who can do this procedure," Passoni said, because Oscar's PFFD is severe.
Passoni hopes the payment negotiations work out, but she says there will also be additional costs of travel during the trips to Florida, where they will have to stay for months at a time during each procedure.
She raised the money to go to the first consultation this summer by selling bracelets that say, "Differences Inspire."
Passoni said she just wants people to know what PFFD is, and support groups encourage parents to educate others, including future schoolmates, to prevent the constant curiousity that could lead to bullying.
Nour Habib 918-581-8369
nour.habib@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Leg deformity doesn't slow tot down
