Looking at the whole child: Coordinated care for spina bifida helps Jeffrey thrive

Jeffrey Marotz and his family may have driven to Boston Children’s Hospital from their home in New York, but it was really the boy’s feet that brought him here. Born with severe spina bifida, a complex birth defect that affects the development of a child’s spinal cord, spine and brain, Jeffrey had also been diagnosed with clubfoot, a related orthopedic condition that causes the foot to twist unnaturally. Previous surgeries hadn’t worked and the braces that had been custom made for then three-year-old Jeffrey didn’t fit correctly. “Nothing was working,” says his mom, Michelle. A team approach to spina bifida Frustrated, Michelle and husband Matt decided to get a second opinion from the Spina Bifida and Spinal Cord Conditions Center at Boston Children’s. Because spina bifida can affect multiple systems, Jeffrey was seen by a neurosurgeon, orthopedist, urologist and complex care pediatrician — all choreographed by Rebecca Sherlock, the center’s nurse practitioner. “I thought we were just coming to the clinic to see an orthopedist,” Michelle says. “It didn’t occur to me that the center was a whole team of doctors who really knew spina bifida, and that those specialties would be working together. Coming here was the best decision we ever made for our son.” Jeffrey and his parents with Rebecca Sherlock An unexpected detour It was during one of those first meetings that Michelle and husband Matt learned that Jeffrey required more extensive treatment th...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories clubfoot Dr. Benjamin Warf Dr. Carlos Estrada Dr. Lawrence Karlin Dr. Terry Buchmiller Rebecca Sherlock spina bifida Source Type: news