“Give that they may grow”

Many families in the local area have been helped by the generous work of the Royal Children’s Hospital with this Good Friday to hold an extra special place in the hearts of local Yarrawonga family, the Jarmans after their association with RCH and the Good Friday appeal in recent years.

Six-year-old Michael was diagnosed with a spasticity (stiffness) disorder of the legs, after his parents Brody and Jocelyn noticed an issue when he started walking at two years of age. 

Just yesterday, Michael had an appointment with a Genealogist at RCH and Dr Rutz who ruled out the a Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP) diagnosis because the Genealogist is still to review a report and findings, however a Spasticity diagnosis has been confirmed.

“We noticed when he started walking around 21 months that he just wasn’t walking right and by 30 months he began to toe walk,” Dad Brody said. 

After many appointments at GV Health and additional medical professionals specialising in orthopedics (a person’s manner of walking), Michael was referred to Dr Erich Rutz, orthopedic consultant at RCH where he was told he required surgery.

“Every part of that hospital was just amazing. Michael had to have a gait scan where you go into a room full of cameras (a Gait laboratory) and it records your walk to assess what may be wrong. That was just incredible and to be able to find out after so long what was causing the issue for Michael was a relief,” Brody said.

Doctors also found a mild hip dysplasia with the position of the left greater than right equinus (a condition in which the upward bending motion of the ankle joint is limited) of both feet was evident.

From there Michael needed urgent intervention so in June last year he underwent a bilateral tendo-achilles lengthening (a surgical procedure that aims to stretch the Achilles tendon to allow a person to walk flat-footed without a bend in the knee, or to bring relief to chronic pain) in combination with tibialis tendon shortening and a Plantar Fascia release (surgery involving cutting part of the plantar fascia ligament to release tension and relieve inflammation of the ligament).

“The surgery was four hours, but we cannot speak highly enough of Dr Rutz; his professionalism, kindness and helpfulness was just amazing,” Brody said. 

“RCH are just fantastic, everyone involved in the place goes above and beyond and they deserve all the recognition and assistance they get.”

Now Michael is a happy and healthy almost seven-year-old who can now play soccer and basketball although having to wear an ankle-foot orthosis for 6-8 hours a day which is also recommended to cater for his growth. 

He will also be very happy this Good Friday when the family will be aired as one of the features on the Good Friday Appeal coverage.  

Recently the Jarman’s travelled to Melbourne for a follow up appointment, where 7News meteorologist Jane Bunn met with the family to film a feature on Michael’s journey, especially as his surgery was the first in Australia and it was a success. 

“We got a call a week or so before the follow up appointment that they would like to also feature Michael and the family on the appeal coverage, so we did that and Michael is very excited to see himself on the tv,” Brody said. 

“Just getting the message out there to people just how great this hospital is, is an aim of ours before Good Friday.

“We would love to see this community dig deep and help the appeal as they do such a great job.

“Everyone that is associated with the hospital, whether its specialists, doctors, nurses, cleaning staff, café staff; everyone is so helpful and friendly.

“We hadn’t had anything to do with the hospital before, but we will be donating whenever we can.” 

Each year on Good Friday, the Good Friday Appeal hosts their biggest fundraiser of the year, raising much-needed funds to support the work of The Royal Children’s Hospital.

Despite the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the appeal once again managed to break records in 2020 raising $18,200,000.

Any donation received goes towards supporting four key areas at the hospital: Research, Equipment and Technology, Leadership, Education and Training and Patient and Family Centred Care. 

Since 1931, $381 million has been raised to deliver the best possible care to patients and their families at The Royal Children’s Hospital and Victorians alike are hoping to break the record once again this year.

With The Royal Children’s Hospital and the Good Friday Appeal two of Victoria’s biggest triumphs, this Good Friday, April 2 in honour of the children and families the appeal helps please dig deep by visiting goodfridayappeal.com.au, many of your local businesses who are housing the donation tins or wait for a door knock by children or local emergency services this Friday and ‘give that they may grow.’