Up front: Fight-the-tax movement approaches ultimate showdown page A3 Community: Are you ready to soak up some fine whisky? page B2 For all the news of the Cowichan region as it happens, plus stories from around British Columbia, go to our website www.cowichannewsleader.com Your news leader since 1905
Friday, April 27, 2012
Samantha Chouinard, 11, helps secure bike rims with twist ties to create a large metal dome, a project by U-Fix-It Bike Shop, during Downtown Earth Day celebration on Saturday April 21 at Charles Hoey Park. Andrew Leong
Shawnigan girl step closer to needed surgery Krista Siefken
News Leader Pictorial
courtesy Ben family
A bout of meningitis has caused one of Emily Ben’s legs to grow more slowly than the other, leading her to need painful and hard-to-get operations.
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ike many little girls, Emily Ben can’t wait to grow up. But this particular little girl requires a special apparatus to help her. Emily was just six months old when she contracted bacterial meningitis, which damaged her knees and the growth plates in her legs.
Additional operating funding? Eightyear-old Emily Ben waiting on procedure to help her leg grow Now, they don’t grow at the same rate. So every time Emily’s left leg is outgrown ¿ve centimeters by her right, she has to have what’s called an Ilizarov apparatus surgically attached to the limb. “The procedure lengthens the leg so it can catch up,” Emily’s dad, Ben Ben, explained. “It’s almost like a metal cage, with metal rods attached to it that go into the bone, and screws that you have to turn four times a day.” Aided by the Ilizarov apparatus, Emily’s leg can grow up to one millimetre a day. She’s already had the device attached to her leg for a four-month span previously. But now, her legs are 6.5 centimetres out — which is why her parents were dismayed when they learned their daughter would have to wait
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two years for the next procedure at B.C. Children’s Hospital. “The longer the waits, the longer the distance her legs grow apart, and the longer she has to have (the apparatus) on when she does get it,” her dad said. The cause was taken up by Cowichan Valley MLA Bill Routley, who has been rattling cages to get Emily in for surgery sooner. And on Wednesday, the topic was raised by NDP Leader Adrian Dix during question period in Victoria. Health Minister Mike de Jong said the health authority and B.C. Children’s Hospital believe they can now provide additional operating room time to address the backlog of patients that includes young Emily. “Nothing has been con¿rmed. It was stated that B.C. Children’s Hospital is looking at increasing the operating time for Dr. (Kenneth) Brown to reduce the backlog,” Ben said of the doctor who is one of the only people in B.C. who can perform the procedure. more on A4
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