Tarron's story : Knees

As I have had little experience so far with issues of knees, I asked another mum to write of her son's experience. 

Tarron is 14 and was diagnosed at birth with Beals, he has been very fortunate and has not developed scoliosis thus far. He has all other characteristics of beals, but the issue we are dealing with now are his loose patella (knee caps).

Tarron has always had knee contractures but they really started to give him problems when he was about 10/11 years old. His knees started to dislocate very easily, some times more severe than others. This is very painful for him and sometimes would take him out for almost a month. When his knee dislocates, fluid builds up, so his knee become very painful and hard to move, the first week or so he cannot bend his knee. We have to use a splint and crutches until he becomes mobile again and can bear some weight.

We now use bilateral knee braces, and thankfully, we have not had any major issues in the past two years. This is just a temporary fix until he has surgery. He has dislocated his knees with the braces, but to a milder degree. Tarron is a very active 14 year old, and with the help of the braces, he can ride his bmx, run, or play any type of physical sports. They are the security blanket he needs, in order be a typical 14 year old.

Tarron's patella's are almost two inches above where they should be, they are also very loose and he can move them at will. A boy knees will fuse properly together around the age of 17 years old. Tarron has always been taller and his body seems to mature faster than other boys his age, which is probably why his knees are ready for surgery now. He is set to have surgery within the next two years as we have to wait for our doctor to fit him in. The surgeries will take place approximately 6 months apart. We have a surgeon who is one of the best in the area, and one of the only doctors in our area who will deal with this particular knee issue.