Pinay teen with clubbed feet takes 'new life' one step at a time

MANILA, Philippines - Fifteen-year-old Jingle Luis could barely look as the doctors at the Bronx hospital in New York begin the arduous task of taking off the casts from her feet last Friday. But when she felt her feet being freed from the tight restriction binding it, she peeked. For the first time, Jingle could walk on the soles of her feet and see her toes without arching back like those who had clubfoot disorder since birth. “I can’t believe it," said Jingle in a GMANews report, “It’s almost 15 years since I could walk. Now it’s getting there." Born with feet so clubbed they twist backward and upside down, Jingle had to use crutches her whole life to hobble on what should be the tops of her feet. Although clubfoot is a relatively common deformity, occurring in about one in 1,000 births, Jingle’s case was much complicated. Her clubfoot was associated with spina bifida or "split spine," a birth disorder caused by the fetus spine’s failure to properly close during the first stages of pregnancy, which results in the incomplete development of the spinal column or its protective coverings. Jingle’s surgeon, Dr. Terry Amaral said doctors who saw Jingle as a baby declared that her spina bfida could shorten her life. So they did not treat the clubfoot. “It’s a miracle!" said Jingle’s mom who flew with her to New York for the operation last April," I’m very happy that this has happened. I’m very thankful to the doctors." Jingle’s treatment consisted of a surgery that involved inserting screws into the bones of her feet. The screws attached to scaffold-like devices stabilized her feet as the screws were turned bit by bit. It took a month to rotate her feet a few degrees a time. Step by step Jingle’s journey from her hometown in Apayao in northern Luzon to New York began in 2003. During that time, Dr. Randall Owen, a head and neck surgeon, traveled to the Philippines on a mission trip organized by the Tennessee-based Christian Medical and Dental Association. Seeing that he could do little for Jingle’s feet by himself, Owen decided that she needed a multidisciplinary team. Jingle and her mother arrived in the US on April 17 and were welcomed by a team of doctors who agreed to do her corrective surgery pro bono. For more than a month, they stayed at a friend’s house in Bergenfield, New Jerseys. After the operation, she said in a report that she dreams of becoming like a doctor or nurse someday. Now that her feet are set firmly on the ground, Jingle says she could begin to make the first steps to the future. - with reports from AP, Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV