A seven-year-old Timmins boy is on the mend after having surgery to help straighten his spine.
Robin Fortier has diastrophic dysplasia, also known as disastrophic dwarfism, and had halo surgery Jan. 13.
While the family was hoping for the surgery to be done in Delaware, Tina Lachapelle, Robin's mom, said OHIP wouldn't cover it. It ended up being done at Montreal Children's Hospital.
It's the same procedure that was attempted a year ago at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). In 2019, Robin went into cardiac arrest and the surgery was aborted.
This time, Lachapelle said doctors were able to do the five-hour surgery to bolt a halo to his head and install hardware with no complications.
"The eight screws and anchors were installed along his spine, so for the length of time that Robin is in halo traction, the screws and anchors will have time to fuse in the bone before we add the pressure of the rods that will be getting installed. So for the next few weeks/months, it is unknown how long it will take to get the proper correction," she said.
Right now, she said Robin's spine curvature is at 90 degreees and the doctor doesn't want to add rods until that number is reduced to at least 45 degrees.
"Once that surgery is ready to be done the rods will be installed and Robin will be free of halo," she said.
"As for now, Robin is in traction day and night, every day adding more weight. The goal is to get his tractions on half his weight, so we’re at eight pounds now, only seven pounds to go and we’re at max weight. And that is when we will get the best correction."
Robin's recovery is going great, according to Lachapelle. She said the pain is under control, and for the next little while they'll be keeping him occupied in to make his time in the hospital as fun as possible.
Over the past year, the community has stepped up for the family.
The day of Robin's surgery, family and friends shared photos online of themselves wearing green, which is used for dwarfism awareness, to rally behind him.
A fundraising campaign also raised money to help get the surgery.
"Without all the support our family couldn’t be together for this whole time," she said, explaining they have an Airb BnB sclose to the hospital so his dad, Robby Fortier, and sister Tianna can come and go.
"This would be such a long time away from them if we couldn’t have this," she said.
"We just wanted to take a minute to thank all the business, the clubs and everyone who donated to make this surgery possible for us. Although it wasn’t done in the US all the donations will help our family live away from home for a few months."