A heartwarming video captured the moment a toddler walked on prosthetics for the first time after having his legs amputated.
Emmy and Justin Brown gave birth to their son Louie, who was born with missing bones in both of his legs as well as a fused-together thumb and index finger.
The missing bones meant there was no chance of Louie ever walking, and his parents were faced with the harrowing decision of either amputating both legs or putting their son through “excruciating” reconstructive surgery every few years.
Emmy and Justin discussed their options with other parents of amputees and were told that without the bone Louie was missing — the tibia — their best bet would be to amputate.
They were also told that if they decided to go the route with reconstructive surgery, there was no guarantee of good mobility and it would be a lot of surgeries.
Emmy and Justin, who live in Columbus, Ohio, eventually made the hard choice to have their baby’s legs amputated.
Louie, who is now two and a half years old, had both his legs removed when he was just 11 months old.
But just last month, the Browns reached out to a charity that proves free prosthetics to children and they were able to get Louie to adjust to his new custom-made legs.
“He was so excited the first time he saw the legs. He thought it was so cool when they were bending,” said Emmy, 29.
The stay-at-home mom said Louie is making progress with his new legs and can even run as fast as other children his age.
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“The video of him walking is amazing, I’m overwhelmed with tears of joy. He’s keeping up with his peers and when he doesn’t have prosthetics on he keeps up with them on his nubs,” she shared.
Seeing Louie run around with his prosthetic legs, Emmy knew they made the right decision.
“It was awful making that decision. We still to this day have moments where we say we can’t believe we had to make that decision but we see him in his prosthetics running around and we know it was so worth it,” Emmy said.
“He would have had one or two surgeries already to reconstruct the legs. He would be in pain and not able to walk well. We’re sad he had to go through it but we see him doing well and it’s worth it,” she continued.
Emmy got pregnant with Louie when she was in the process of adopting her sons Tay, 12, and Jojo, 5, since she and Justin, 27, were desperate for a child.
She said they were having the “most ideal 20 weeks of our lives” until she went for her routine scan, and doctors mentioned something was wrong.
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At the scan, Louie’s legs appeared small for his body and they were crossed and tucked underneath him. The doctors told them that it could be fatal and Louie might not survive the pregnancy.
“We were devastated. It was awful, one of the worst moments of my life,” Emmy said.
Eventually, the doctors ruled out the possibility of the condition being fatal, but they were still unsure about what his quality of life would be.
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“We were just happy with that news even though we were devastated. We tried to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Emmy shared. “I think back to those moments where we thought he might not make it through pregnancy and now he’s running at two and a half.”
Since Louie is a healthy and growing boy, he will need to get fitted for new prosthetics every two to three years — but he will be able to easily play sports, run and swim with his friends.
“It’s given him the ability to run. He’s so energetic and always on the go. When he had the surgery, they told us not to let him run on his nubs but we had to hold him down,” Emmy said. “He’s so resilient, it’s crazy cool.”