Uncle Stepa – Kommersant

Stepa Korotkov lives with his parents in Yaroslavl. The boy has a congenital abnormality for the development of the right leg – it is thinner and shorter than the left. During the second operation, it was possible to equalize the legs, but recently Stepa has grown greatly – and the right leg again became shorter than the left by 5 cm. The boy hardly walks, lame, there is a risk of curvature of the spine. If we help parents pay a multi -storey surgery for almost two million rubles, Stepa will be able to walk normally.

“The house has eight fraction one at Ilyich’s outpost …” Andrei begins to read.

“… a tall citizen lived by Kalanch’s nickname,” Stepa sprisrates by heart and laughs fadely.

The boy loves this poem. He is sure that Sergei Mikhalkov wrote about him. Firstly, his name is Stepa. Secondly, at one time he and his parents lived in the house of eight. And thirdly, Stepa is also a kalancha, only so far is small. He is half a head higher than the peers and grows not by the day, but by the hour.

“We’ll grow up,” the boy dreams, “I will be a policeman like Uncle Stepa.” Or a sailor. And better firefighters to save people.

Parents and doctors have not yet told him that he will never be a policeman, nor a firefighter, or even a sailor. And Stepa’s rapid growth worries them more than pleasing. Because the boy himself is growing, and his right leg does not want to grow: she is twice as thin as left and shorter by 5 cm. Stepa walks on the mouse, limping. 50 m will pass and sits down on a bench: « The leg hurts, I can no longer. » What fires are there?

“When Stepik was born, his right leg was like a rope,” says his mother Marina. “There was no muscles on the lower leg at all. One thin bone covered with skin, and on it is a foot with fused fingers, twisted in the other direction.

Now Stepa is five years old, and he is increasingly asking the question: « Why do I have different legs? »

“The hospital was advised just in case to pass a genetic analysis,” says Marina. “But we did not.” As they saw what prices were on them, we decided that it was better to buy orthopedic shoes to my son. And the exit is still one – the operation.

The first two operations of Stepa were done in Yaroslavl for free. At three months, the boy brought the foot to the right position, a year later he learned to walk.

Just walked Stepa shortly. After a year and a half, a sore leg, which grew much slower, lagged behind a few centimeters. It had to be pulled out with the help of a special iron structure – the Ilizarov apparatus.

“To lengthen the leg, it must be broken,” says Andrei. “The operation was 4.5 hours.” Around the right foot, a whole Shukhov tower was erected and screwed with screws to the bone. For several months, Stepa was afraid to step on her and even look: « Dad, close her with a blanket, I’m scared! »

Almost a year has gone to ensure that the child could walk again. All this time, Stepa dreamed that he would go to kindergarten, like all children. Most of all he wanted to find friends, play football with them, invite you to visit. But while she and her mother were waiting for their turn to the kindergarten, the left leg again outgrown the right, Stepa began to limp and could no longer reach the kindergarten.

“We are walking in the yard,” mother sighs, “dad teaches Stepa to pull up on the horizontal bar.” The son can already pull up twice. His hands are strong, and with his leg – trouble. The difference in the length of the legs is becoming more and more every day. Doctors are afraid that the curvature of the spine and a wheelchair is not far off.

The boy urgently needs a multi -stage surgery with the installation of a sliding pin that will grow with his foot. It costs almost two million rubles, and the parents of Stepa does not have that kind of money.

From a walk, the boy comes sad, no one wants to play with him: « I do not know how to run quickly and hide. »

“Nobody offends Stepa,” says dad, “he is very friendly, he always wants to help everyone.” But the guys rush around like mad and do not notice him.

Recently, in the park of Stepa, he made friends with the boy. He showed how he could pull himself up, the children played for a long time and laughed. Styopa immediately invited a new acquaintance to visit and introduced to dad: « This is my best friend. » But a friend soon took his parents to the football section. And Stepa remained alone to read « Uncle Stepa. »

Svetlana Ivanova, Yaroslavl region