Dugan Smith of Fostoria, Ohio, was ten years old when he was diagnosed with bone cancer. After chemotherapy, his leg was removed, but part of it was reattached -backward!
It took 18 months of physical therapy for Dugan to learn a new way to use his leg. Now 13, he is playing baseball again. http://healthandfitness.sympatico.ca/news/leg-reversal_surgery_keeps_boy_in_the_game/f26953cf -via J-Walk Blog
Known as a rotationplasty, his surgery involved removing a large section of his right leg that surrounded the tumour - from below his knee to about mid-thigh - then reattaching the lower limb to the shortened upper thigh.
The twist, so to speak, is that Dugan's lower leg was rotated 180 degrees and sewn on backwards.
His ankle now acts as his knee, his calf has replaced the lower part of his thigh and his backwards-facing foot slips into a prosthetic and powers the reversed muscles and joint with an up-and-down motion.
"I'll be able to play basketball and baseball - baseball's my favourite sport," says Dugan, a seventh grader who pitches and plays first base on his junior high school's baseball team in Fostoria, Ohio. "Just knowing I would be able to play those made my mind go straight at it."
It took 18 months of physical therapy for Dugan to learn a new way to use his leg. Now 13, he is playing baseball again. http://healthandfitness.sympatico.ca/news/leg-reversal_surgery_keeps_boy_in_the_game/f26953cf -via J-Walk Blog
Because his upper leg and knee were removed. The lower leg and foot were OK, so they were attached ackwards so that his heel (now pointing frontwards) could function as a "knee" for him.
Go get 'em Dugan! The kid has spunk. All my best for him!
Sometimes though I just want to punch life right in the face. Stupid life, be less harsh.