Northland mum uses son's club foot treatment in short film festival entry

A routine check with Dr Lyndon Bradley, Braxton and mum Maria Thompson at Whangārei Hospital was filmed for Maria's movie about talipes equinovarus, or club foot as it is also known.

The orthopaedic service at Whangārei Hospital could have been mistaken for the set of Shortland Street last month when one of its regular patients used the space to film a scene for a short film she is submitting to the 2019 Focus on Ability Short Film Festival in Australia.

Maria Thompson and her 8-month-old son Braxton have been visiting the service for regular treatment after Braxton was born with talipes equinovarus or club foot.

Club foot is when one or both feet are rotated inwards and downwards. It is a congenital condition, which means it is present at birth.

About seven or eight in every 1000 Māori/Pacific Island live births have talipes, compared to two in every 1000 Pakeha/European live births.

Whāngarei hospital's Orthopaedic Service holds weekly talipes clinics run by an orthopaedic consultant, nurses, physiotherapist, plaster technician and play therapists.

Northland has a high rate of club foot, with more than 120 children on the DHB's register and 270 children receiving treatment in recent years.

Thompson is a student at Hiwa-I-Te-Rangi, a school for young parents in Kaikohe and when the festival approached the school to see if they wanted to submit a film, she took up the opportunity to use it as a platform to inspire other parents on the same journey as Braxton and hers.

Ultimately, she wants to show that his condition is not a disability because of all the positive treatment he has had from Whāngarei Hospital to correct it.

The film will document their journey from learning she was pregnant, to when she was first told about the condition and she questioned whether she was responsible or not.

Using images of the progress Braxton has made since he was a newborn, Thompson will talk about the ups and downs she has faced.

She plans to include the scene she filmed at Whangārei Hospital during Braxton's last check up and an interview with consultant orthopaedic surgeon Dr Lyndon Bradley.

Bradley was a natural in front of the camera and gave her a full explanation about what exactly club foot is, how it's caused and how they have managed to realign Braxton's foot using the Ponseti Method.

He also explained that although they know the condition is genetic, it sometimes appears out of nowhere.

"Sometimes if the baby is squashed (if they are a twin), or if there's a problem with fluid it's there – but other times we don't know why it happens."

He said once treatment is finished, Braxton's feet may not be quite the same as other children's feet and often the calf muscle is smaller, but their aim is to ensure his foot is flat and pain free.

Initially, Braxton and Thompson had to travel from Moerewa to Whāngarei every week for Braxton to have new casts made to gradually change the direction of his foot.

He also had a surgical procedure to put a small cut in his Achilles tendon to lengthen it and enable the foot to be moved into a normal position.

Following that he had to wear special boots for 23 hours a day for three months, and will carry on wearing these boots while he sleeps until he is 3 or 4 years old.

Now though, after months of regular treatment, Braxton is required to attend the clinic only every six months.

Thompson will submit the film to the festival at the end of May, and then she and the school will have to wait to find out if she is successful and whether she can attend the red carpet premiere in September.