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Girl, 3, has finger surgery in US
Surgeons operated on the girl's fingers
A three-year-old girl had to travel to the US to have surgery to improve the grip in her malformed fingers.
Kerry Walker, of Clanfield, Hampshire, was born with three stunted fingers on each hand.
Her family was told that British surgeons would not carry out the same surgical procedure.
So they raised more than £55,000 to fund the surgery on one hand.
Now the family must raise another £10,000 to complete the treatment.
Doctors in Boston extended Kerry's fingers during a series of operations.
Kerry Walker, of Clanfield, Hampshire, was born with three stunted fingers on each hand.
Her family was told that British surgeons would not carry out the same surgical procedure.
So they raised more than £55,000 to fund the surgery on one hand.
Now the family must raise another £10,000 to complete the treatment.
Doctors in Boston extended Kerry's fingers during a series of operations.
The operation will mean she should have 75% of
normal growth in that hand  |
Marie Walker, Kerry's mother
|
She was born with normal thumbs and one working finger on each hand.
The operations have been carried out on stunted fingers on her right hand.
Doctors broke the bones of her fingers, fitted them on a form of brace and gradually extended the fingers using metal pins.
Kerry and her mother Marie flew out to Boston in January for the final operation on her right hand and arrived back in Britain last week.
Mrs Walker said: "The operation will mean she should have 75% of normal growth in that hand.
"She will need physiotherapy but it should mean she will be able to grasp, and use a computer, and it has been important cosmetically as well.
"When we first realised what the operations would do we weren't sure whether it was fair to put her through it, but she has been absolutely fine.
"We just want her hands to be as normal as possible, and seeing what has been done on her right hand has made us even more determined to raise the money for the surgery on her left hand."
Mrs Walker said she and her husband Dave had been contacted by several other families whose children had been born with stunted fingers.
She said they had also been told that British surgeons would not perform the operation, preferring to remove the stunted fingers and replace them with toes.
"If that had been our only option then we would have done it, but we're hopeful this will give Kerry much more knuckle movement and better grasp," Mrs Walker added.
The operations have been carried out on stunted fingers on her right hand.
Doctors broke the bones of her fingers, fitted them on a form of brace and gradually extended the fingers using metal pins.
Kerry and her mother Marie flew out to Boston in January for the final operation on her right hand and arrived back in Britain last week.
Mrs Walker said: "The operation will mean she should have 75% of normal growth in that hand.
"She will need physiotherapy but it should mean she will be able to grasp, and use a computer, and it has been important cosmetically as well.
"When we first realised what the operations would do we weren't sure whether it was fair to put her through it, but she has been absolutely fine.
"We just want her hands to be as normal as possible, and seeing what has been done on her right hand has made us even more determined to raise the money for the surgery on her left hand."
Mrs Walker said she and her husband Dave had been contacted by several other families whose children had been born with stunted fingers.
She said they had also been told that British surgeons would not perform the operation, preferring to remove the stunted fingers and replace them with toes.
"If that had been our only option then we would have done it, but we're hopeful this will give Kerry much more knuckle movement and better grasp," Mrs Walker added.
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