Hi Everyone. I am 41 years old and was born with a clubfoot on my left side. My foot is smaller than my normal one. Also the lower leg muscle is very underdeveloped which means I have only limited movement of my foot. I have no movement of my big toe..
As a child I was embarrassed whenever I had to strip in front of other children and was afraid of being teased and mocked. However this rarely happened and now on reflection I see how foolish I was. This embarrassment remained with me for most of my life and it is only recently that I learned to deal with it. One of the most difficult times was when I went to discos and had to walk across a dance floor to ask a girl to dance. I didn’t have many girlfriends and did blame my foot for this. Not many girls wanted to go out with a boy with a turned in foot.
Eventually I found a very nice girl and ended up marrying her. I worked in a factory for eighteen years and now I work as a truck driver. My foot has never prevented me from doing anything. I played football, did long distance running and was able to do manual work as well as anyone else.
My cousin recently had a son born with a clubfoot and when they asked me about it my reply was that if that was the only thing that was wrong they had nothing to fear. I now rarely even think about it and am getting on with my life and enjoying it the best way I can.
