Catherine Mclean is a young woman living with clubfoot it the UK and discusses her experience of clubfoot with us on this episode. Catherine talks about how she viewed her clubfoot as a child, and how things changed when she was no longer had follow up appointments and began to experience pain as a teenage. She talks about her experience at university and how she has managed to advocate for herself to make the necessary accommodations to improve her quality of life. Catherine and I also have an interesting discussion about when and how to tell coaches and teachers about the clubfoot diagnosis. A huge thank you to Catherine for being a guest and sharing her story with us.

Anjie England is back in this episode to give us all her insights and experiences of traveling with her son Aaron for his clubfoot relapse treatment. She gives advice on how to navigate airport security, manage flights, and where to stay when you are out of state. Anjie is a wealth of knowledge in this department and I know that there are a fair amount of families who have to travel for treatment and I am so grateful for Anjie's willingness to talk about her experience.

In this short and sweet episode, I give you information about the upcoming Zoom event, "Stepping Forward Together", a parent event sponsored by MD Orthopaedics. The event is dedicated to clubfoot parents and features experienced orthotists, Shannon O'Shea from Hanger Clinic and Ksenia Major from Boston O&P. We gathered FAQ from the clubfoot community about the bracing phase of treatment and Shannon and Ksenia will be answering those questions. Anyone can register, it is completely free, and it is really focused on being an additional resource for clubfoot parents. Click this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L1rR3GgLQDKp609VCLDIgw?fbclid=IwAR0tC12XVgRa6qFHz-umcsSzon56oqxNyvXq8tqg7OE31CCZ9dT7gNvNWwo#/registration

This episode is for the extended family and friends of clubfoot cuties and their parents. When parents receive the clubfoot diagnosis of their baby, they can feel overwhelmed with learning about the diagnosis, researching treatment methods and providers, and emotionally processing it all. I created this episode specifically for parents to refer anyone in their life to learn the basics of clubfoot and its treatment. If you are a clubfoot parent who is trying to learn themselves about clubfoot and don't know where to start to explain to you family and friends, this episode is here for you to refer them to. This episode is very informational and there will be a follow up episode with suggestions on how to support clubfoot parents at different phases of treatment. It is my sincere hope that this episode can be used a resource for you to send your friends and family who are wanting to know more about clubfoot and its treatment.

This episode is for the extended family and friends of clubfoot cuties and their parents. When parents receive the clubfoot diagnosis of their baby, they can feel overwhelmed with learning about the diagnosis, researching treatment methods and providers, and emotionally processing it all. I created this episode specifically for parents to refer anyone in their life to learn the basics of clubfoot and its treatment. If you are a clubfoot parent who is trying to learn themselves about clubfoot and don't know where to start to explain to you family and friends, this episode is here for you to refer them to. This episode is very informational and there will be a follow up episode with suggestions on how to support clubfoot parents at different phases of treatment. It is my sincere hope that this episode can be used a resource for you to send your friends and family who are wanting to know more about clubfoot and its treatment.

Betsy Miller joins me to talk about the upcoming release of Clubfoot Connections: Stories, Essays, and Poetry from the Clubfoot Community. Betsy talks about how the idea for this anthology came about and how we were able to take the idea and make it happen. I am so excited for this book to be released and we talk about how important it is to provide a space for all clubfoot experiences, which was a goal of ours for this book. We are so grateful for each of the authors who submitted a piece of their stories to create this amazing resource for the clubfoot community, Clubfoot Connections will be available for on June 2, 2023, just in time for World Clubfoot Day. Be sure to follow us on Instagram for information about the book and for fun giveaways.

Erica Atha is the mother of a clubfoot cutie who joins me on the podcast today to talk about her son's clubfoot journey and her clubfoot parent experience. Erica ad I formed a friendship over social media and she has been an amazing support for me throughout this whole podcast and I am excited for her to share her story with you all. This conversation was fun for me because it felt like two friends chatting. A huge thank you to Erica for being a guest and I hope you really enjoy this episode.

In this episode I talk about the big party we threw for our cutie when she graduated from BnB. I talk about why we wanted to throw a party, the special items I ordered for her and a full run through of how the party went. Ending BnB is A HUGE deal for clubfoot families and I talk about why it was so important for us to celebrate in such a big way.

This episode is a first for the podcast as it features a mom who has two kiddos who were born with clubfoot, Katherine Jardine. Katherine lives in the UK where both her sons received clubfoot treatment and works for the Global Clubfoot Initiative. Katherine talks about the differences in her sons treatments based on their severity level, how she felt when her second child was diagnosed with clubfoot, and where she sees the difference between her sons personalities now. It was such an insightful conversation, where I learned a lot about how no two clubfeet are the same. I am so grateful to Katherine for being a guest and know you will enjoy this episode! https://globalclubfoot.com/

Our cutie has officially graduated from her BnB and I talk about how the end came about in an unexpected way. I talk about how we made the decision to keep bracing until 5 and about how our cutie reacted when we told her she didn't have to wear her BnB anymore.

In this episode I speak with Semeda, a company based in Germany who creates products for clubfoot treatment. I speak with Harald, Andrea, and Artur a team from Semeda about a wide range of topics pertaining to clubfoot. We discuss the unique challenges clubfoot treatment faces in Europe and where the company sees clubfoot treatment headed in the future. Since we were speaking over seas and they were in a group format there are bits where the audio got a little tricky, but we persevered and the result was an engaging and interesting conversation about clubfoot. A big thank you to Semeda for being guests on the podcast, it was wonderful to have you on. https://www.semeda.de/english-1/about-semeda/

In a previous episode I talk about how important it is to advocate for your child on the clubfoot treatment journey, but now I am exploring why it is important to advocate for your needs as a parent as well. We hear time and time again that in pediatric care the parents wellness is vital to the wellness of the child they are caring for, and part of that parental wellness is the parents getting what they need from their child's care team as well. If you have more questions after an appointment, how do you get them answered? If you need more resources than what have been provided, how do you go about getting them? I explore these topics and why it is important for parents to advocate for their needs in their child's treatment journey.