Auckland toddler born with rare leg disorder seeking surgery in United States

Toddler Lydia Golding just wants to walk on two feet.

The 3-year-old, from Hauraki on Auckland's North Shore, was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD), a condition which left her with an unformed hip and shortened femur.

The non-hereditary condition was picked up during mum Lauren Golding's 20-week pregnancy ultrasound.

Golding and husband Hamish had suffered miscarriages in the past and feared they'd lost their baby when the ultrasound technician went "eerily silent".

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* Amputee model Jess Quinn's journey to self-acceptance * Rio Paralympics 2016: Jesse Reynolds and Nikita Howarth dream of swimming for gold They were later told that there was something wrong with their baby's legs, and following Lydia's birth, she was diagnosed with PFFD. Lydia's class of PFFD affects about one in 500,000 babies. It can cause deformities in the hip and leg bones, primarily the femur. She is now a thriving toddler with a "heart of gold". Her left leg has grown to be 14 centimetres longer than her right. She gets around with a prosthetic leg, but the condition has left Lydia with a "very large dipping gait", which will worsen with age and cause problems with her back, Golding said. In New Zealand, treatment options are limited to amputation or rotationplasty - when the foot and ankle is removed, rotated and attached to the femur backwards to create a 'knee joint' for a prosthetic leg. However, both would leave Lydia with a limp and dependent on prosthetics. "It's not going to get her two feet on the ground," Golding said. The family is now preparing to take Lydia for surgery in the United States, where her hip will be reconstructed, followed by surgeries every three years to lengthen her femur bone. It is hoped her leg will be lengthened by eight centimetres and topped up with a heightened shoe sole. "I don't want to amputate my child's leg when this can actually be corrected. If there's another way of doing it, why wouldn't you? "Imagine going to the beach with your own two feet in the sand and the water."After losing both forearms in an accident decades ago, this Chinese veteran is now making affordable prosthetic limbs for fellow amputees. A Givealittle page has been set up to raise $360,000 prior to the surgery in October, to help with the surgery and accommodation costs. The family, including 1-year-old sister Rose, will stay in the US for four months for daily physical therapy. Lydia and Golding will need to return at a later date to have the lengthening device removed. "We can definitely come up with some, but not all unless we go into huge debt," Golding said. "This will give her a lot more freedom of running around and just being a kid. Just to be able to keep up with her peers will be amazing."

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