Harness Heroes

"Hip dysplasia, developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) or congenital dysplasia of the hip (CDH) is a congenital or developmental deformation or misalignment of the hip joint." This basically means the baby/child's hip is not set in the joint correctly and this means that they may need surgery, they may need to be in a spica cast or they may need to be in a pavlik harness. The treatment for each baby/child and the length of time for treatment varies for each patient. For families this means a lot of hospital trips, needing custom clothes for their baby/child, needing special resources and needing someone to talk to who understands the situation.

Harness Heroes is a cause set up to support families who have babies or children with Hip Dysplasia. The dream is to be able to provide families with a support package consisting of a support network, information on Hip Dysplasia, a couple of pieces of custom clothing to fit babies/children in a harness and a few other helpful resources such as muslin cloths to protect skin from the harness rubbing. I estimate the cost of this to be around $80 per pack - but the contents of the pack are really reliant on what funds are available.

For babies/young children with spica casts I would love to be able to support them by providing a custom made table that allows them to sit and enjoy a activity or eat a meal without falling over due to the weight and position of their cast. This is also reliant on funds available.

I was inspired to set up this support group as we are currently on our own journey with our 4 week old having Hip Dysplasia and being in a pavlik harness and have found this a very lonely and hard time as there is no real support network available and even simple things like dressing your child are not easy as normal clothes do not fit and there is very little out there in the way of custom clothing. (I have currently sourced custom clothing from Australia)

I have set up a phone number, email address and facebook page so that families new to experiencing Hip Dysplasia can get in contact and I can support them the best I can.