Glass bones, heart of gold
11-year-old Isabel Ferraz de Andrade suffered a fracture even before she was born. “The doctor said that this little baby has a problem. But I didn’t know what it was,” said Maria Aparecida Ferraz de Andrade, her mother. The diagnosis came with the girl’s birth: osteogenesis imperfecta, a disease commonly known as “glass bone syndrome”. Since her bones are very fragile, she has fractures often and, most of the time, needs surgical interventions.
Because of the girl’s diagnosis, the family moved from Maringá, in the eastern region of Paraná, to Curitiba to be treated at Pequeno Príncipe Hospital. Isabel was only 10 months old then and since then, the Hospital has become her second home.
The girl has suffered 17 fractures and has undergone 15 surgeries. Even so, she has fond memories of her time at Pequeno Príncipe. “Once, they were trying to find my vein but I was very little and it was very hard. Then a clown came and played with me and cheered me up and everything worked out. I took the medication and was okay,” remembers Isabel.
“Here she can count on professionals of various medical specialties. Besides, there are many cultural and educational activities and I receive support from the Participant Family Program. Pequeno Príncipe has everything we need,” her mother emphasizes.
Due to her disease, Isabel is only 93 centimeters tall, but has a huge heart, capable of handling anything that comes on her way. “I want to come back to the Hospital as an endocrinologist doctor and take care of children, to repay all that they have done for me,” she plans.
The girl with glass bones, but a heart of gold, also had another dream: to see the ocean! The trip to Rio de Janeiro was a present given to Isabel by a tourism company that is a Hospital’s partner.
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Orthopedics Area
Pequeno Príncipe’s Orthopedics Service is one of the biggest in Brazil and has a team made up of fifteen doctors, all with educational degrees completed in the largest world centers dedicated to Pediatric Orthopedics. The highlights of the treatments offered are the corrections to the spine, hip birth defects, osteogenesis imperfecta and club foot. In 2017, there were:
- 20.924 outpatient treatments in seven different areas;
- 2.056 hospitalizations;
- 1.997 surgeries; and
- 164 bone transplants (grafts).
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