LIFE-CHANGING SURGERY ENABLES LITTLE GIRL TO WEAR SHOES FOR THE FIRST TIME

Imagine being eight years old and not being able to wear shoes.

Any shoes.

That used to be little Tiffany Grobler’s reality.


A rough start


Neglected since birth, Tiffany walked with difficulty due to severely shortened Achilles tendons. This meant that she was doomed to live a life tiptoeing, barefoot on her deformed little feet, through an already challenging world.

Not only did Tiffany have to face healthcare challenges that no child should ever have to face, but had spent her young life in and out of many different homes, never even attending school of any kind.

While other little girls were jumping, dancing and learning, Tiffany

dealt with problems such as where she would live next, who would be taking care of her and how she would find the money to afford the operation she so desperately needed to fix her feet.

Operation Healing Hands-Tiffany

The light at the end of the tunnel


Tiffany’s life started to change dramatically when Operation Healing Hands, a non-profit organisation based in Pretoria, heard of her struggles. The organisation provides free surgery and treatment to patients most in need. They intervened in little Tiffany’s life and turned things around.


A surgeon on the Operation Healing Hands team was able to lengthen Tiffany’s tendons and, after months of rehabilitation, the little girl was finally able to walk normally. But that wasn’t all!


Big changes


Things were really looking up for Tiffany, who was not only finally, and officially, adopted by her grandfather, but was also being enrolled in school. After hearing Tiffany’s story when a local radio station broadcasted it, a school near Tiffany’s new home with her grandfather offered to sponsor all of her schooling up to Grade 12.


A happy ending


Thanks to Operation Healing Hands and the kindness of the community, Tiffany could attend her first day of school wearing her first pair brand-new, shiny school shoes and who knows? One of these days, she could be dancing like she always dreamed!

~ Article by Magriet Stander