Cheyenne Batchelder, rural Columbus, received a very special gift for her sixth birthday.
In addition to toys and a Disney Princess bicycle, the youngster has a brand new right leg.
Her birthday is Feb. 10, but she celebrated Saturday with family and friends at the Columbus Pizza Hut, happily chowing down on her favorite “Meat Lovers” pizza and birthday cake.
The child’s leg was amputated Dec. 29 in Kansas City. The youngster suffered from a genetic disorder, neurofibromatosis, which made the bone in her leg paper thin. The bone broke when she was four months old.
Cheyenne underwent two bone grafts and the placement of a rod in her right leg. Finally, her doctors gave mother Tricia Spencer two options.
“One was to take a chunk of bone from her left leg and put it in the right leg,” she said. “That might not be successful, and she could develop problems in her good leg. The other option was amputation.”
Spencer said her daughter has been doing well.
“Cheyenne has surprised us all,” she said. “It was real rough right after the surgery. She has a very close bond with her little brother, and as she was waking up she was saying, ‘Bubba, help me, Bubba, help me.’ They also had to give her some heavy-duty medication to deal with the phantom feelings where she lost her leg. Then she was better, and some of the nurses cried when she left.”
Spencer said that Cheyenne first got into her prosthetic leg a couple of weeks ago.
“It was too soon, and the incision split open, so she needs to heal more,” she said. “She was allowed to wear it today because it’s a special occasion.”
She said Cheyenne recently went to Kansas City for a two-day therapy session, learning how to put the leg on and remove it, and how to be more independent with it. Her sister, Cherokee, 4, and brother, Zackarry “Bubba”, nearly 3, went with her.
“When Cheyenne first came home, Cherokee was a little afraid and said that she wanted her sister’s leg back, but she held Cheyenne’s hand and went through the therapy with her,” Spencer said. “Bubba was trying to push her to go faster.”
Her stepfather, Chris Spencer, is confident that Cheyenne will get the hang of walking with her new leg very quickly.
“Nothing stops her,” he said. “She just goes.”
Cheyenne will eventually outgrow the leg.
“These prosthetic legs are adjustable to a point, but we will need to replace it sometime,” her mother said.
She’s not worrying about that now.
“Cheyenne is a pretty happy 6-year-old,” Spencer said. “She’s getting into girly-girl things now, and loves it when I fix her hair up like mine.”
Spencer and her husband said they are very grateful for all the help they received, including benefit concerts and a poker run.
“Basically, the whole community helped,” she said. “It even reached out to the whole Four-State area. We couldn’t have done this without all this help.”
COLUMBUS —
