'We thought our baby would never walk, watching her walk to Santa was priceless'
Two-year-old Daisy Keough strode confidently up to Santa, a grin on her face as bright as a Christmas star.
It was a moment her proud parents feared they would never see when their little girl was born without a thigh bone in one leg. Mum Claire, 36, said: “Looking at her after she was born, there just seemed no way anyone could fix her.”
Experts didn’t even have a name for Daisy’s super-rare condition, or any idea how to help her. But thanks to specialists at one of the world’s leading orthopaedic hospitals, she could take those brave steps to see Santa, and even helped decorate the Christmas tree.
Claire added: “Last Christmas, Daisy basically couldn’t do anything on her own. She couldn’t fetch her presents or help with decorations. But this Christmas, everything’s changed. We took Daisy and her sisters to see Santa at Lapland UK, and to see her... it was priceless!
Little Daisy was born without a femur (SUPPLIED BY Matt Barbour)
She also didn't have a knee up to her hip (SUPPLIED BY Matt Barbour)“Santa gave her a big fluffy Husky which she now takes for walks everywhere, and she’s helped put all the baubles on the tree. Having two legs and being able to march around on her own, it’s the best Christmas present ever!”
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Claire and fiancé Kieron did their own research online after Daisy was born in February 2021, and learned about proximal focal femoral deficiency.
Affecting just one or two babies out of every 100,000, PFFD is a birth defect in which the upper part of the femur is either malformed or missing, causing one leg to be shorter than the other. Daisy’s left knee was by her hip.
The family enjoy Christmas in 2023 (SUPPLIED BY Matt Barbour)“We held no hope our daughter would ever walk, she’d be dependent on us to get anywhere, to have any kind of life,” said Claire, from Edgware, North West London.
“We told our other children – Summer, then four, and Cece, then two – who just took it in their stride and spent hours cuddling our constantly smiling new delivery.”
In April 2021, they finally had a diagnosis – Peter Calder, a surgeon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, North West London, confirmed Daisy had PFFD.
Claire said: “Daisy has a severe case – as well as having a significantly shorter femur than her right side, she has no fibula, or calf bone, and her left foot isn’t aligned correctly. It just seemed impossible for her ever have a normal life.
“Mr Calder explained the best course of action at a later date would be to amputate her left foot so a proper prosthetic could be made, but in the meantime the hospital would create a series of short-term false legs so Daisy could start to learn to use her shorter leg.”
Daisy had her first prosthetic fitted just after her first birthday last year, and soon started to take steps holding on to her baby walker. Then, in mid-January 2023, the family’s dream came true.
Claire said: “I decided to place some of her toys a little further away than normal. I saw her take three steps on her own, and screamed with joy! I sent a video to Kieron, and he couldn’t believe it.”
This May, Daisy had her left foot amputated. Claire added: “It sounds grim, but it was a game-changer. After six weeks recovering at home, she got her first full prosthetic, and was striding everywhere. Every day on the walk to school with her sisters, all she wants is to be like them, and now she is.”
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To find out more about the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) Charity’s Give Thanks campaign and how you can donate or get involved please visit this website
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