Martha Continues to Make Progress from her Hip Surgery

In June 2016 Martha underwent major hip reconstruction surgery. It has taken many months of hard work for Martha to recover from the operation but at a recent visit to see her orthopaedic consultant he was pleased that Martha was making good progress and she has now started being able to bear some weight in "free standing". Martha still has a long way to go to get back to full pre-op strength but we hope over time that she will be able to help with transfers and take some steps with support.

In our quest for equipment to help with her rehabilitation and daily physiotherapy, we were asked by Vida Global to trial a new piece of equipment called the Innowalk at a therapy conference in November. The device was designed in Norway and is commonly used by children there with disabilities as part of their daily physio routine. The Innowalk looks rather like a Cross Trainer but has a built in motor which provides assisted, guided and repetitive movement for the user in an upright, weight-bearing position. The movement of the legs in the Innowalk is similar to normal gait and it allows flexion and extension of the hip, knee and ankle joints. 

Martha walking in the Innowalk at the conference

Martha did incredibly well during the trial session and the physiotherapists at the conference were all blown away by how well she tolerated the movement. After just 12 minutes in the device, Martha’s usually tight ankle joints were flexible and the therapists all agreed that the equipment would be beneficial for Martha.

Having access to a piece of equipment like this would really benefit Martha and her recovery. Martha's family are about to start actively looking at how we can make this possible in the near future.

Martha Turns Ten Years Old

Martha recently celebrated her tenth birthday with family and friends. After having a lovely lunch at home Martha went to see the annual Quince Players pantomine, this year Jack and the Beanstalk.

Martha enjoying her birthday cake

Martha really enjoyed the singing and dancing in the show and was really excited when the cast and audience sang her Happy Birthday...!!!

Martha Enjoys Christmas with her Family

Martha had a lovely Christmas and spent time taking part in a number of activities with family and friends. Martha enjoyed a bowling trip, going to see the latest Disney film Moana and also attending the South Hill Park pantomime Cinderella for the first time.

Martha and Orla having fun together in their Christmas jumpers

Martha Has Fun at Christmas Parties

Martha and her family were lucky enough to be invited to two Christmas parties by two local charities. Martha really enjoyed the Peapods traditional Christmas party with games and crafts, a lovely buffet lunch and a visit from Father Christmas bringing presents for all of the children. Martha also had a lot of fun at the Sebastian's Action Trust Harry Potter themed Christmas party. Martha had some lovely food, took part in a potions lesson to make slime and enjoyed meeting Dumbledore and his friends who were giving presents to all of the children.

Martha and Orla having fun at Hogwarts

Dumbledore giving out Christmas presents

Martha and her family continue to be very grateful to Peapods and Sebastian's Action Trust for their continued support of many local families.

Martha has Life Changing Hip Surgery

Martha underwent bilateral femoral and pelvic osteotomies at the John Radcliffe Children's Hospital on Monday 13th June. The operation took two surgeons working simultaneously nearly six hours to complete. During this time they cut the head from both of Martha's femurs and repositioned the ball joint at the correct angle, cutting away approx. 1.5cm of bone from each femur. The right hip socket was then opened up and reconstructed using the bone taken from the femur. The ball joints were then relocated into the hip sockets and held together securely with a number of metal plates and pins. These are likely to stay in place but may need to be removed after a year if they cause discomfort. They also performed a tendon release on her right hamstrings which will hopefully help Martha to extend her leg fully.

Martha arriving on the ward after surgery

Martha spent two hours in the recovery area due to her temperature dropping during surgery. Once back on the ward, Martha's pain was managed by a combination of an epidural and intravenous (IV) morphine. She was also on IV fluids, regular paracetamol and her usual epilepsy medication.

The first few days were quite tough for Martha as she'd lost a lot of blood during the surgery and needed a blood transfusion. The morphine based pain relief (both epidural and IV) didn't agree with Martha - it made her very itchy and uncomfortable.

Day 3 with slightly more colour after transfusion

Once Martha was able to come off the epidural and IV medication on day 4 she really turned a corner. The nurses were able to successfully manage Martha's pain medication orally and she seemed so much better being able to finally get into her chair and go to the ward play room for some fresh air. Martha also spent some time with the ward play specialists and even went to the ward class room for a short time.

IV free and enjoying the ward play area

Martha was discharged from the hospital after 6 days and has spent the last few weeks recovering at home. She has had regular visits from the community nurse to change her dressings and from her community physio to see how her legs are recovering (we aren't expecting to start intensive physio until after she has seen her consultant at the beginning of August).

Happy to be welcomed home

Martha and her family would like to thank everyone at the John Radcliffe Children's Hospital who cared for Martha so well during her time with them. We couldn't have asked for anything better and we are really grateful that the NHS is able to provide this sort of life changing operation for children like Martha.

We are very optimistic about the future, with the restrictions of Martha's old hips now gone we have every hope that she will be able to start standing, taking steps and transferring between chairs/equipment in the future.

Easter Fun with “Oliver” at South Hill Park

Martha took advantage of her Easter break to attend a matinee performance of Oliver with her sister and dad at our fantastic local arts centre South Hill Park. Martha’s talented mum, Angela, was in the band for the production - skilfully playing the violin. Martha had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the show. So much so that she “sang along” to most of the musical numbers – this added to Martha’s enjoyment of the show but perhaps not so much for the audience members sitting close to her J

Martha on an Easter trip to Windsor with her mummy, daddy and sister.

Martha's Magic Quiz 2016

Martha’s family and supporters turned out in impressive numbers for what has now become Martha’s annual fundraising event. We had lots of very positive feedback from people who attended and we have raised enough money to pay for a full three week period of daily  intensive physiotherapy at the Footsteps Centre in Oxford and some weekly privately funded physiotherapy at home. Martha really benefits from these and they will be even more vital if Martha has to have surgery on her hips later this year.

Martha's Mum thanking everyone for supporting Martha

A full house at Martha's Magic Quiz