Linethma Sethumlee, 5-Year-Old Girl from Dubai, Undergoes Successful Leg Surgery at RIAO

Linethma Sethumlee had always wanted to visit the snow park. She and her family reside in Dubai, where youngsters pine for the winter white we take for granted every holiday season. The 5-year-old simply wished to join the other little ones scampering through the faux snow, but a very rare condition called congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia held her back. Thanks to global partnerships between dedicated physicians, the International Center for Limb Lengthening at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics (RIAO), Sinai Hospital’s executive leadership, several other departments within the hospital and the Little Wings Foundation, Linethma will eventually be able to walk – and romp – through a winter wonderland. Though congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia is more than a mouthful, it means, in simple terms, that Linethma’s bone doesn’t heal from fractures the way other children’s bones normally do. We often think of our bones as being fixed and rigid, ...