Back on his feet again

Chandrakant Kothere (41) was a happy man on Wednesday as he relived the joy of standing on his feet. Naziya Alvi reports.

Chandrakant Kothere (41) was a happy man on Wednesday as he relived the joy of standing on his feet.

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Having suffered multiple compound fractures on his right leg in a road accident three years ago, the Hindustan Petroleum employee, was advised amputation, as repeated surgeries couldn’t correct the deformity.

His right leg had become three inches shorter than the other. Kothere, however, decided to fight the odds.

“My faith in god did not let me give up,” said Kothere, after he walked into a press conference on Wednesday morning at Wockhardt Hospital.

A rare surgery called Bone Transport has enabled Kothere’s body to re-grow his leg bones naturally.

Explaining the procedure that put Kothere back on his feet, Dr Sachin Bhonsle, an orthopedic surgeon said, the surgery was performed in two stages.

In January, all the infected and un-united bones were cleared out.

Then, the leg was aligned and bone fragments fixed using a ring shaped steel frame — Ilizarov External Fixator.

The screws attached to the fixator were tightened at regular intervals to enable the bones to re-grow.

After the bone grafting, it took another two months for the bones to heal and Kothere finally got a straight leg of normal length.