Walking into the World of AFOs - Ankle Foot Orthotics

Not many realize when they meet big brother Adam that when he was little he could not roll over because his head was too swollen and heavy from his brain tumour. He then had trouble learning to sit and to stand. When he did learn to stand, he then had to learn how to walk. Standers, braces, we tried everything. Eventually it was my dad coming up with a cart for him to push around that drove him to want to get going. His curled in and tight arm is long gone but if you watch him walk barefoot his ankle collapses in. He needs an AFO (ankle foot orthotic) but has not wanted to wear one for years. They are not comfortable, but more so, it takes work to put them on and off, especially with running shoes.

Along comes baby brother and the incentive is there. He discovers they can be twins and that he can pick out the colour and we are off to the races. Unlike Adam, William has full range of his ankles and his joints are quite good. He needs the support because the coordination of all the limbs and movements is just too complicated all at once. This means he needs one for each foot. To save time in my schedule and to make it exciting for Adam, we have both boys fitted at the same time. With a nurse supporting William, I bounce back and forth between the rooms, amazed at how much bigger Adam's foot has gotten since the last mould, and also amazed at how William can sleep through getting compression stockings put on, rubber tubing being placed, a cast being put on and then a cast being cut off.

When this kid sleeps, he sleeps!

Big brother - always a smile,

- always a water bottle

- always a jokester

- always a big heart

The moulds were cut off and then sent off to be processed.

We returned to get them fitted, adjusted and trimmed to be specific to these guys.

Adam was so excited he wore them every day for a week - we won't mention that was weeks ago!

So far we have been putting them into shoes, but do to the fact that William just uses them to stand at this point instead of walking, we will likely have the material added to the bottom to let him wear them without shoes.

The exciting part of having him try them on was getting right on the floor of the training area and having him push his weight on to his legs all by himself and not wanting to sit but keep trying. It was a moment that brought happy tears and lots of laughter!

And here is the movie I promised from his second birthday - showing off what he can do and loves to do with his new AFOs on.