|
|
Stephanie S. Bankson Martin
|
The program, titled “Rebuild My Legs,” originally aired in January, and features Martin, chief of orthopaedics at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) as she performs life-changing surgery on the younger and weaker of twin boys. The twins were diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy, a condition that inhibits muscle control and movement, when they were 18 months old.
Asked by the child’s mother to operate on the stronger twin last year, Martin performs the far more risky and dangerous procedure on the second twin, a quadriplegic with limited control over the muscles in his arms and legs, during the documentary. Even with successful surgery, there is only a 25 percent chance that the child will ever walk.
Just two percent of all board-certified orthopaedic surgeons are women, and Martin is one of just 10 pediatric orthopaedic surgeons in the country specializing in sports medicine. Martin is also co-director of CHOA’s pediatric sports medicine program, and she serves as clinical assistant professor in the department of orthopaedics at Emory University.
By: Phyllis Eberts
014-07
| Related Links: |
