March 28, 2024

Dubuque teen looks to help others after 18 surgeries

DUBUQUE (AP) — As she looks back on her 19 years, Betsy Till is grateful for the surgeries, medical stays and physical therapy that marked much of her childhood.

Betsy was born with a limb deficiency that left her right leg shorter than her left. The process of correcting the issue has stretched over most of her life.

Betsy’s parents adopted her from China when she was a small child. From that time until almost two years ago, she received extensive medical treatment to lengthen her leg.

That process has opened up more opportunities for Betsy as she has gotten older. As she prepares for the next phase of her life, she wants to pay forward the help that was given to her.

“It allowed me to be able to live a normal life, the kind of life I probably would have wanted to live,” she said. “There was nothing really holding me back once I started doing the limb-lengthening surgeries.”

In 2001, Gini Till began the paperwork to adopt her second child from China. She worked with Holt International, a Christian organization that facilitates international adoption services.

Gini asked if she could adopt a child with clubfoot, a condition she experienced when she was younger. Gini was told about a young girl who had a limb-length difference, but another family already was interested in adopting her.

Eventually, the original family realized that they were too far from the medical health care the young girl would need. Gini received a picture of the child who soon would become her daughter.

“There was her picture in front of a white picket fence with roses, and that’s always been my sign from the guy upstairs,” Gini said. “That was it. She was in my heart.”

Betsy was adopted in October 2001, and her parents took her home to Dubuque. She was 3 years old.

Betsy was diagnosed with proximal femoral focal deficiency. Her right leg was nearly five inches shorter than her left.

Betsy’s new family quickly began providing her with medical care to correct the limb difference.

Initial attempts at surgery and leg lengthening were unsuccessful, so her parents sought care at The Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics in Baltimore.

She spent the summers of 2004, 2008 and 2011 in Baltimore. Doctors surgically attached an external fixator to her femur and tibia. The device was used to slowly separate bone so new bone could grow in and lengthen her leg.

Betsy received regular physical therapy and care. Her mother and older sister, Maria, would stay with her in Baltimore, while her father, Dale, took care of the family home in Dubuque.

Even while living in Dubuque, she made regular trips to Baltimore for surgeries and appointments. While she was home, she underwent physical therapy.

Betsy said the process was difficult, particularly when she was young, going through multiple surgeries while only understanding the basics of what was happening.

“When I was younger, probably I hated it, because I didn’t know why we were doing it,” she said. “But as I got older, I was able to understand all the benefits.”

She underwent her final surgery in 2015 to finish the leg-lengthening process. In total, she underwent 18 orthopedic surgeries.

Betsy now is a senior at Wahlert Catholic High School and is preparing to graduate this spring.

She says she is grateful to be done with the limb-lengthening process and for the opportunities it opened up. She was part of show choir from eighth to 12th grade. She was a cheerleader at football games for three years of high school.

“I can do cheerleading, show choir and just live a mostly normal life because I was able to keep both my legs, and they’re both almost even,” she said. “Basically, it’s normal enough that I can live with it for the rest of my life.”

In the fall, she plans to attend Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids to study nursing. She already is a certified nursing assistant and is preparing for a job at Mount Carmel in Dubuque, where she will help take care of residents.

She said she hopes that through her work, she can pay forward all the help she has received.

“I’m hoping one day, maybe I could work as a nurse in orthopedics with patients like that because ... I know exactly what they’re going through and how hard it is,” Betsy said. “But in the end, you just have to try to get to the end.”