The Beginning of My Journey

My name is Emma Shanley O’Brien and welcome to my blog!  I just turned 3 years old in December and I love gymnastics.  The balance beam is my favorite.  I also love zip lines, arts, crafts and just making a mess in general.  My family and I have so much fun together and I love playing with my big sister Madison and my little sister Teagan. I’m different than most kids because I have Fibular Hemimelia, which causes one leg to be shorter than the other. Anyway, my family and I have been going to Florida to see Dr. Paley, the best and most experienced limb lengthening surgeon in the world. Dr. Paley said that he is going to do surgery to make my leg longer when I turn 3, which is, well, now! They have to put a funny thing called a fixator on my leg.  The doctor said I will have it  on my leg for about 5 or 6 months and I can take medicine so it won’t hurt as much.  I will also have lots of physical therapy so I can make my leg long and strong again. The doctor said I can swim and play with the fixator on my leg within a couple weeks of my surgery so I can still have fun. I know I can do it, I am really brave. You can follow my progress on this blog and see for yourself! I am going to keep doing all the things I love to do!!