Farrukh has suffered from a complex malformation of his right leg since birth, which severely restricts him in everyday life. The boy is unable to romp around and play sports. Thanks to the cooperation between Friedensdorf International and Schulthess Klinik, Farrukh was able to be helped with an operation. The treatment costs at Schulthess Klinik were covered by the Patient Assistance Fund of the Wilhelm Schulthess Foundation.
Farrukh, now ten years old, comes from Denov, in the far south-east of Uzbekistan, near the Tajikistan border. He lives there with his parents and his eight-year-old sister. He is in year three at school.
Since birth, he has had a shortened right leg. In his home country, he did not receive any orthopaedic aids, such as a shoe elevator or crutches. He was able to attend school, but playing or doing sports with his friends of the same age was practically impossible. The imbalanced load also caused pain in his hip.
The family’s financial and living situation is poor and there is no medical infrastructure for him in his area. Consequently, the possibilities for treating a shortened leg were not and are still not available in his home country. Although a first operation to stretch his leg took place in Uzbekistan in 2017, this did not yield the desired success.this was. On the contrary – it resulted in a severe additional deformity of the femur, almost 80°, in addition to the already existing length difference of 15 cm. What's more, the parents' financial means for enabling further treatment were also eventually exhausted.
Treatment thanks to cooperation between Schulthess Klinik and Friedensdorf International
Thanks to the case-by-case assistance of Friedensdorf International, however, Farrukh could still be treated. Friedensdorf International brings children from war zones and crisis areas to Germany after a medical assessment and refers them to specialised clinics for treatment. The children then return to Friedensdorf for rehabilitation after their stay in hospital.
Schulthess Klinik is the only clinic in Switzerland that works in cooperation with Friedensdorf. Every year, it accepts two to four children and young people for treatment. All treatment costs at the clinic are financed by the Patient Assistance Fund of the Wilhelm Schulthess Foundation. Transport, pre- and post-operative care are handled by Friedensdorf. Find out more about the cooperation between Schulthess Klinik and Friedensdorf International.
Farrukh only came to Germany in May 2021, where he quickly became very popular with the children in the facility. Farrukh loves animals and likes to play with cars. Thanks to the shoe elevators and walking aids, he was soon able to move around reasonably easily and fit in well with the children’s group.
Specialised surgery for leg lengthening at Schulthess Klinik
In September, the trip then continued to Switzerland to the Schulthess Klinik. In a four-hour operation, our paediatric orthopaedic specialists attached an Ilizarov ring fixator to the outside of Farrukh's femur. “Thanks to excellent teamwork, we were able to correct the severe misalignment during the operation. It was not easy to separate such a short bone in two places, correct the misalignment and integrate it into the ring fixator,” explains Dr. med. univ. Hannes Manner regarding the challenges of the operation. “At the same time, we prepared for the subsequent lengthening of the femur.”
Farrukh spent almost two weeks at Schulthess Klinik, away from his family and his new friends in Friedensdorf. That's certainly not easy for such a young person, especially in a foreign country.
Farrukh’s stay at our clinic was very moving and marked by an interest in his well-being and intensive care. A retired employee of Schulthess Klinik visited him almost every day, accompanied him on walks and took the boy under his wing. In the space of just a few days, he was also able to move around on his own in a wheelchair and improved his communication in German – and before long, almost everyone at the clinic knew him.
Follow-up treatment in Friedensdorf
Back in Friedensdorf, the local medical staff provided further care. This also included regularly advancing the length of the leg one millimetre at a time by adjusting the fixator and cleaning and caring for the insertion points. In the three months that followed, it was possible to lengthen the bone by as much as 8 cm. Accompanying physiotherapy also ensured that the leg was moving correctly and helped build up the muscles. The X-ray examinations arranged there kept our paediatric orthopaedic staff up to date about the progress with leg lengthening and the healing process.
Back home in no time
March saw another visit to Switzerland. In an outpatient operation, we removed the fixator and stabilised the leg in a cast.
At this time, Mara, a 12-year-old girl from Angola, was staying with us and had already undergone her major surgery. She had a severe misalignment of her legs, which we were also able to correct operatively thanks to support from the assistance fund of the Wilhelm Schulthess Foundation. She is yet to undergo a second operation. We discharged both Farrukh and Mara back to Friedensdorf together on 31 March.
From there, a flight organised by Friedensdorf will soon take Farrukh back to his home country, where he will be reunited with his family after such a long time and be able to lead a life with a new freedom of movement and quality of life.
