By Paula Scott

Can you imagine being six years old and traveling from Burkina Faso in West Africa to northwest Ohio? The distance is over  8,000 miles and travel time is 30 hours. For Francois, the journey is a momentous one for additional reasons. When the Icon met Francois at NWO Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Bluffton he was receiving therapy with Rachel Diller, PT, DPT, and was wearing new braces for clubfoot. In a prior year, he had surgery at the Orthopedic Institute of Ohio for the condition.

Club foot is a fairly common birth defect where the foot and ankle are misaligned causing the bottom of the foot to turn sideways, up or down. Children in the United States typically have surgery soon after birth. Francois, however, did not have this opportunity. In his home country, untreated clubfoot would keep him from attending school and present many other disadvantages.

Wearing his new braces, Francois is able to channel all the energy of a young boy, learning to walk, run, jump–and play hopscotch–to improve range of motion and strength. He paused to answer our questions in excellent English, but was focused on what fun he could find in the office.

Talking with Francois and his host mother, we learned that pizza and Spiderman are two of Francois’ favorite things. Blue, the color of his braces, is his favorite color. He plays soccer in Burkina Faso and is learning T-ball and to ride a bike here in Ohio. He will have an American-style “six and a half” Spiderman themed birthday party before he goes home.

The relationship between Francois and his host family will be a long one. On this visit, he was spending four months with his host family. When he came for surgery and casting on both feet in 2021, he spent a full year. He will return for new braces and evaluation until he is done growing. If Francois would not wear his braces, the club foot would return.

On his previous visit, Francois had to wear an external fixator, which he called shark teeth. Diller explained that it was like braces on teeth, and was adjusted turn by turn. He wore these devices for seven months. “He was a pretty brave boy,” Diller remembered.

Children’s Medical Missions West is the program that made it possible for Francois to be treated for his disability, which is both a genetic condition and affected by malnourishment.

NWO, located at 132 Garau St A, Bluffton, treats all ages and orthopedic diagnoses, as well as vestibular and balance related conditions.