Siblings with same rare birth defect can walk after donated care

Mum Lisa Kassau had never left her village on a tiny volcanic island in Vanuatu.

But that was before a life-changing opportunity allowed her to fly to Australia to help her children walk.

Siblings Anis, 13, and Melanie, 3, were both born with severe structural talipes, often called clubfoot.

The condition, which can run in families, had been uncorrected in the pair for so long that their feet were turned backwards and it was painful to try to walk.

It affects one in 1,000 babies born in Australia.

Seven months of donated physiotherapy and surgeries in Canberra have allowed the pair to walk.

"I miss my family [but it's] important for my children to walk,"

Ms Kassau said.

"I live in my fields a long way away [and there's] no treatment," she said about the island of Tanna.

Ms Kassau now marvels at her children as they walk and play; the trio is thankful as they prepare to fly home.

"I can live now,"

she said.

Boy stares at new feet

Within 24 hours of arriving in Australia, senior physiotherapist with Canberra Health Services Melanie Ryan had applied stretching and put the children in plaster up to their thighs. That plaster was then changed once or twice a week.

"Melanie certainly engaged with us beautifully and would play games, but as soon as we'd go to put a plaster on, she well and truly got cross with us and told us off," Ms Ryan said about her three-year-old patient.

"There were a couple of occasions where we thought she was being quite cheeky and saying some tough stuff to us. The mum refused to tell us what she was saying, her older brother also refused [but] he was very much chuckling."

Ms Ryan worked with physiotherapist Dan Myyrylainen and Dr Blaise Wardle, who performed surgeries on the siblings.

She said a moment she would always remember was when Anis put his feet out in front of him and stared at them.

"I'd say to him, 'do they look different?' And he would just smile at me,"

Ms Ryan said.

"I think he'd gotten so used to his feet being turned for such a long time that I don't think he realised it was going to be possible for his feet to be corrected and to look like his friends'."

Ms Ryan said her time with the Kassau family was "rewarding".

"It's great to be able to use our skills for families who otherwise wouldn't have access to it," she said.

The care is possible under a memorandum of understanding between the ACT government and Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) which brings sick babies and children to Canberra for critical care.

Goal to help 50 kids

The Kassau family was welcomed into Sandra Goldstraw's Canberra home.

The Rotarian, who was instrumental in establishing ROMAC's Canberra operation, is a retired nurse and midwife who has housed, fed and clothed 33 Pacific Islander children, including Anis and Melanie.

"And there are more children out there who need our help, who are just like our children," Ms Goldstraw said.

"They are loved just like our mums love us."

Ms Goldstraw hopes to help 50 children.

And next week she will host a baby and mother, also from Vanuatu, when the three-month-old boy who has a lung condition is discharged from a special care nursery in Canberra.

Quiet duo thrives

Ms Goldstraw said when the Kassau siblings arrived they were very quiet before developing interests in their new surroundings.

"They started to really like TV because they've never had the TV at home, and we have an extra phone, so they kept on playing games on the phone.

"And Melanie, well, she's just a sweet little three-year-old who was quite noisy at times, and she loved to dance around."

When older brother Anis was not in hospital, he was supported to attend Gold Creek High School for two terms.

"They looked after him so well. They even had a special teacher to guide him," Ms Goldstraw said.

And although there were significant language barriers, she said she had a wonderful connection with the children's mother.

"She'd always like to have a hug," she said about Ms Kassau. 

"I could see that she was so happy to see her children progressing with their treatment; she would smile when she saw them walking around and having a bit of fun at the physio department," she said. 

ROMAC started 20 years ago and has helped about 600 children, while the Canberra operation began in 2010 with capacity to help four children each year.