It’s ‘a quick turnaround’ as Belleville boy receives new prosthetic leg after his was stolen
It’s been kind of hard for 3-year-old Josiah Rainey to get around the last week and a half without the prosthetic leg he usually uses to walk, but that came to an end on Tuesday afternoon.
At Shriners Hospitals for Children in St. Louis, the active Belleville boy received a brand new prosthetic leg, a gift to his family from the hospital.
On March 1, Josiah’s original prosthetic leg was reported stolen during a break-in to his mother’s car in front of their Belle Valley Drive apartment. His mom, Brie Rainey, told police that the car had been unlocked and the thieves had taken a backpack the leg was in, along with her driver’s license and credit cards.
Josiah’s story picked up speed from the moment it was featured on local media that Friday night, prompting his prosthetist of two years, Darren Rottman, to reach out to the family and set up a casting appointment for the next Monday.
“He really stepped up to the plate when he saw a need,” Josiah’s grandmother, Karen Frey Stephens, said Tuesday.
After Rottman took a cast of Josiah’s leg, the cast was sent to a Shriners Hospital in Portland, Oregon, he said. There, it was a “quick turnaround” where they were able to put a new prosthetic together and send it back to the St. Louis hospital in under a week.
The new prosthetic leg can be adjusted as Josiah grows, Rottman said. On Tuesday, the prosthetist had to tinker with it for a few minutes when it wasn’t quite a perfect fit the first time.
“It’s a trial and error kind of thing,” he said. “But so far, so good. There will always be bugs that need to be ironed out.”
Shriners Hospitals offered to give the family the new prosthetic for free, despite its actual cost of $10,000.
“This is how we treat our patients at Shriners, regardless of their ability to pay, we want them to get the best pediatric care they can get,” hospital spokeswoman Tammy Robbins said.
Josiah needs the prosthetic leg because he has “VACTERL, a rare disorder that affects multiple body systems. VACTERL is an acronym for vertebral defects, anal atresia, cardiac defects, tracheo-esophageal fistula, renal anomalies and limb abnormalities,” according to the GoFundMe page established for Josiah.
Stephens said she was overwhelmed by the community response to Josiah’s experience, saying she found articles on the incident in publications from South Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom as well as every state in the U.S.
The GoFundMe page has raised over $4,000, which will now be put toward ongoing medical care and a wheelchair for Josiah.
“We are so excited and so blessed for this opportunity that has been created for us,” Brie Rainey said Tuesday.
Rainey said that Josiah will need continuous physical therapy to get used to the leg, and that it is a constant battle for the growing boy to learn how to use.
“It’s quite a process,” she said. “He always needs a couple weeks to get the confidence back, and after that it’s a lot of fine-tuning.”
Rainey told reporters at the hospital that she felt guilty when the leg was first stolen.
“I felt bad, and like it was my fault,” she said. “A lot of us can’t imagine what it’s like to go around without a leg.”
Now, Rainey said she’s just happy to see how well things worked out for her son.
Belleville police Capt. Mark Heffernan has said that the investigation on Josiah’s case remains active and the department has received tips from the public. He said anyone with information can call the department at 618-234-1212.
This story was originally published March 12, 2019 at 5:18 PM.
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