A Chatteris family has raised over £450 for a charity which helped them understand more about the condition known as clubfoot.

Wisbech Standard: Adele (front) with supporters at a charity event organised to say thanks for the support given to Adele and her parents Emma and Guy Pacey.Adele (front) with supporters at a charity event organised to say thanks for the support given to Adele and her parents Emma and Guy Pacey. (Image: Archant)

Emma Pacey and her grandmother Katherine Broughton organised a coffee morning and raffle at the sheltered housing complex in Springfield Avenue, March for Steps Charity Worldwide.

Emma and husband Guy’s second daughter Adele, six, was born with a talipes left foot or clubfoot and needed extensive treatment at just a few weeks old to help straighten it.

Emma, who has an elder daughter Olivia, nine, explained Adele’s problem was not picked up on scans before she was born so it was a complete shock when she arrived with her foot turned in and three ‘curly toes’ (they bend under).

“It can usually be detected on a scan, but it was missed in Adele’s case so it was a shock. We wanted to know more about the condition and what to expect so we turned to Steps Charity Worldwide.

“They support parents whose children have problems with their lower limbs and they were really helpful,” explained Emma.

she said Adele, a pupil at Kingsfield Primary School, had a full leg cast from just nine weeks old for the first three months, and had an operation when she was two-and-a-half to straighten her foot.

“We had to cut the feet out of all her babygrows to allow for the cast. Then she had to have boots and a leg brace, which she had to wear 23 hours a day until she was two-and-a-half.

“She used to love having her nappy off and a kicking her legs in the hour when the brace was off. But funnily enough she really missed it when she didn’t have to wear it any more,” said Emma.

Adele has not been held back by her foot problems, she loves horse riding and dancing. She still has to have regular checks to ensure the foot does not start turning inward again and she may have to have further operations in the future.

Emma added: “The coffee morning was a real success, both girls enjoyed helping out and we are really grateful to everyone who supported us.”

• Clubfoot is one of the most common congenital birth defects. Nearly one in 1,000 babies is born with clubfoot and one-fourth of them have a family history of the defect which is twice as common in boys than in girls