Kyah’s Journey

No-ones foot should ever look like this, especially someone who has spent her entire young life striving to be a Prima Ballerina.

On September 26, 2016, at 4.30pm, Kyah was doing her usual acrobatic muck around on her trampoline. She must have landed perfectly wrong this particular time, with  her aerial, & this is what resulted.

An ambulance was called.  When they finally arrived they said they needed a specialist paramedic to relocate her foot. After 40 minutes in total,  waiting calmly,   with her grandpa on the phone & me (Kyah’s mum), all praying there would be no long term damage done to a foot that had been dancing on pointe for 18 months, with 3 major dance events within the next month… obviously they would need to be postponed/cancelled.

The specialist paramedic arrived & Kyah was adequately prepared for the relocation: The stuff in the green whistle worked wonders to relax her ligaments & have her level of consciousness at a point she was unaware what was happening.

Then it was off to the hospital. The ambulance officers & all the staff at Gold Coast University Hospital were fantastic; thank you everyone.

X-rays & CT scans showed a break in the distal end of the tibia, & an avulsion fracture in the distal end of her fibula. Other than that, the structure of her foot looked great.

Praise God her skin did not rip or tear with the dislocation, & praise God there was no damage to her growth plates or anything else.

With the assistance of twilight anaesthetic, a very sturdy, supportive plaster cast was put on Kyah’s leg. This was to help reduce any swelling, help maintain stability in her ankle & provide support for her.

We were informed she would need major surgery first thing in the morning: pins and plates to reattach the avulsion fracture of the fibula & a plate with pins across the front of her ankle to stabilise her entire foot.

I would not agree to any surgery at that hour, it was now 11pm. I knew that if she had that type of surgery she would never dance again, especially on pointe & especially at the level she was moving into.

A very dear friend, Madeleine drove up twice that night, to GCUH to bring us dinner, collect our house keys & bring us essential items back. Thank you so much beautiful lady, 😘.

It was almost midnight by the time we were moved to a ward.  Both of us tried to sleep. Kyah was on good medication to help with her pain, however,  it did not erase the image she had of the sole of her foot looking directly at her. She didn’t sleep much.  Every time I closed my eyes I had the vision (above) of her foot clearly etched in my brain. Will this girl ever dance again? Why has this happened to her? Where does this take us now? What does God want us to do?

I got 2 x 30 minutes of sleep that entire night. Praying about what to do & promises that had been made, that were now seemingly falling apart. I was sure about one thing – I was continually being told “no-one will cut her skin”.

In the morning I spoke with my dad to try to figure out if what I was hearing was correct. I just knew I heard the words ” no-one will cut her skin”, & yet it seemed destined that she would have an op.

Finally the specialist came in & said no-one is to operate on this child. She is 13 years old, her ankle will heal itself, if I go in & try to fix something, I could do the foot more harm than good.

What a huge relief. Praise God, there would be no operation.

After seeing other people in the hospital, collecting crutches, getting the plaster trimmed to below the knee, we were allowed to go home.

Another dear friend, Ruth, came & picked us up & drove us all the way back home again. Thank you beautiful friend, 😘.

Both of us still in complete shock with the events of the last 24 hours, we sat down & had some food!

Where to from here?