KEENAN STANDS TALL

Doctors said he would never be able to walk, but an innovative surgery has resulted in this teen facing the world with confidence

- MELON RADEBE

The young man in the shiny blue three-piece suit is beaming and bursting with pride. It was custom-made for him but it’s not the outfit that has him radiating joy.

Keenan Petersen (18) looks as pleased as he does for the simplest of reasons – he can stand upright. Until recently this was something he couldn’t do because of a genetic abnormality.

When YOU meet him, he’s seeing off his best friend, Megan Sampson (18), who’s on her way to her matric dance. The suit Keenan is wearing was made for his matric ball, a few weeks back.

It was a special night for Keenan, made even more so by his custom suit and prosthetic leg.

“I was able to wear long pants!” the shy teen from Chrisville in Johannesburg tells us. “Preparing for the ball was very stressful and nerve-racking when it came to choosing an outfit, but I was happy and excited.”

Keenan was born with an abnormality that caused the bones in his arms and legs to be shortened, fused, or absent. But he can at last walk comfortably, thanks to an innovative orthopedic surgeon, Dr Sietse Wouters, and the love and support of his mother, Rowena Cohen (44).

When Keenan was a baby, his mom consulted as many doctors as she could, hoping someone would be able to help

Keenan. But they all said the same thing.

“He was born like that, and it’s not like whatever isn’t there is going to grow back, or whatever is short is going to grow to a normal length,” Rowena recalls being told. “They said he would never walk and would be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.”

Everything changed thanks to Dutch-born Dr Wouters. He performed an innovative surgery that changed Keenan’s life.