Meet Valentino

Valentino was born with Clubfoot, but he loves soccer. He dreams of playing soccer with his friends. His Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital team is working on that for him.

Clubfoot is caused by a shortened Achilles tendon, causing the foot to turn in and under. Usually, treatment is done in two phases: casting and bracing.

It was during the bracing phase that Valentino encountered some complications. The splints may have become too small, too soon. You see, this spunky, friendly 12-year-old is growing very fast. A growth spurt might have affected the problem with his splint, which resulted in a slight pressure sore becoming a large gaping hole.

Pressure sores or ulcers, skin infections, dermatitis, thermal injuries, and joint stiffness are all possible complications of splinting and casting.

Splinting with Plaster of Paris casts and/or braces increases the risk of pressure ulcers when the child’s skin stretches in opposite directions. This can happen even when the child simply moves up and down the bed.

Valentino’s heel ulcer is not an uncommon complication of lower-extremity immobilization. However, it has resulted in two operations over the past year. This little one has spent much of his year in and out of Red Cross Children’s Hospital. Valentino says it’s getting a little boring now. A small smile sneaks across his face, and his eyes sparkle. He’s spent much of his recovery time playing X-Box with his friends. But it would be nice to walk again.

This young one has become so accustomed to his hospital visits he sits calmly on the bed as the staff nurse removes the stitches of his last procedure. Here in the Dressing and Procedures Room, things happen quickly and carefully. A doctor comes over to share advice with the nurse, who struggles with some of the deeper stitches. Valentino doesn’t flinch. This lovely-natured youngster still has a glint in his eye. He has been through a lot, and nothing will keep this young man down.

“Today, he’s having his stitches removed, and they’re going to put a dry dressing on,” says mom Leonie. “He won’t be able to walk on his foot, and next week he will return again.”

She goes on to explain what might lay ahead for her son: “Doctor said to me now, if he comes back next week and the dry dressing has helped, and it has improved, then they will start putting him on crutches, so he can take it step by step. But as yet, “she reiterates, “he won’t be able to put pressure on the foot.”

It will be a while before Valentino recovers fully from the skin flap surgery. Flap surgery can be used for various reasons; for Valentino, it was because the wound was large. It meant that surgeons had to transfer a piece of living tissue from one part of his body to his foot, along with the blood vessels that keep it alive.

We know miracles happen here, but sometimes we must remind ourselves how many decades these miracles have been in the making.

With every new development, the scale of miracles increases.

Many hearts and minds come together to make miracles that matter for children like Valentino, helping them daily to take the next step.

Help us build Orthopaedic patients a 30-bed Orthopaedic Unit at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. 100% of your donations will go directly towards the project.