Written by Abby Housely
Willard, Utah
Our son Bridger was born with a condition called Larsen’s Syndrome, a very rare connective tissue disorder causing multiple joint dislocations. When I was pregnant with him, we did not know anything was wrong except for him having one clubfoot. Little did we know what was ahead of us!
Bridger was born with several deformities in his joints. He had bi-lateral clubfeet, he had no hip sockets and his knees were dislocated. He had very low muscle tone so he was very floppy. I really thought if I moved him he would break.
We came to Primary Children’s Hospital mainly to seek out an orthopedic surgeon for his joints, but later found out that Bridger had a lot of instability in his cervical spine. That was when we found our neurosurgeon, Dr. Brockmeyer. We watched Bridger’s spine over an 8-month period and there was so much change that, although the risk, we felt it was time to operate. In March 2013, Bridger underwent a cervical spine fusion. It was one of the scariest and hardest things that my little family had to go through.
We knew when Bridger came to us that life was going to change forever. I would be lying if I said that it has been easy. I struggle with the question “why?” all the time. It is tough looking back at the last 2 ½ years and seeing all the ups and downs that we have gone through, but we are constantly learning from this special child. He has truly been a blessing to our family, our friends and even our community.
Almost five months later, Bridger has made a full recovery from his cervical spine surgery. He still has many more surgeries ahead of him, but with the help and support from Primary Children’s Hospital, I know he will live a full and active life. We are very blessed to be surrounded by these wonderful doctors and family and friends who support and love us also.
