Baby Tumiso born 20 October 2004 (Johannesburg)
By Brenda Moloi

Tumiso, a beautiful baby boy, was born at Natalspruit hospital at 2:00 am, weighing a healthy 3.995 kilos. The doctors told his mom Brenda that he had clubfoot but she’d never heard of clubfoot.

“I asked myself if he would be able to walk, but where was the answer? Nowhere. At 8:00 am the doctor came and told me he would have casts, I was so confused, I didn’t understand. I took him to the hospital, but every time we had the casts, they fell off the same afternoon or the next day. We had to wait for the next week for him to be casted again and it went on and on with no difference in his feet. When I got back to work I searched the Internet for clubfoot. What is it? How can I help my baby? I was so desperate for him to get well.

Luckily I found STEPS Charity and learned about the Ponseti method. I immediately phoned Karen Moss and she told me about Dr Mark Eltringham. We had our first appointment in March 2005 and in June Tumiso had his tenotomy. Tumiso had 20 unsuccessful casts before we found out about the Ponseti method.

We went to the first STEPS seminar for clubfoot in 2007 with Tumiso and the doctors were so impressed when they saw his feet. At the time he was wearing his brace for 23 hours and we travelled with public transport to the seminar without any problem, we both enjoyed that day so much.

Thanks to Dr Mark, Gavin (orthotist) and this angel who was brought to us by God - Karen Moss. I don’t know how to thank the three of you, sometimes I feel overwhelmed about how can I thank you all."

Brenda Moloi
Johannesburg, South Africa