A little boy in China is hoping for a holiday miracle – to walk with normal feet.
Meng Weixin, 14, was born with congenital neurofibromatosis, a rare disease that caused his feet to balloon to several times their normal size, leaving him unable to wear shoes, according to Britain’s The Sun Newspaper.
In place of sneakers, the boy wore large denim cloths around his Elephant Man-like appendages, which provided no protection during the winter months in the Guangxi Zhuang region, an autonomous region in southern China near the border with Vietnam.
The boy’s right foot was so large it bent back on itself, and his toes swelled to the size of oranges.
"I wish I could wear shoes like my classmates,” the boy said, according to The Sun. “I wish I could run fast like they do. I wish I could go everywhere I want."
He may get that wish soon after undergoing a successful operation at a hospital in Shanghai, China on Thursday.
Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Shanghai performed the four-hour surgery for free after one of his teachers posted pictures of him online.
The doctors expect him to regain 70 percent of normal foot movement and being walking again next month, with the assistance of special-made shoes.
"The surgery was successful,” said Ying Hao, chief surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Shanghai, according to The Sun.
“The left foot is expected to recover satisfactorily, but the right foot has to be treated in two to three phases.”
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