Maxance Ngnepieba
My name is Maxance L Ngnepieba, and I’m 9 years old. Throughout my life I have had 4 successful surgeries on my right leg from my amazing Doctor, Dr. Eric Loveless. During all this time, I have been a normal joyful boy. I swim and play soccer, baseball and basketball. This is my story.
I was born in Douala, Cameroon on December 18, 2001. When I was born I had a club foot. Then my Dad got a job at Florida State University as a post doctorate in Mathematics with medical insurance, and my family and I moved to Tallahassee, Florida; I was just 3 months.
When I arrived in Tallahassee, my dad managed to immediately find a primary physician who referred us to Dr. Dewey from the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic (TOC). After a couple of visits, he suggested that an amputation of the right foot was the only and feasible solution for me to resume a normal life. My family was devastated, but devoted to look for another opinion.
My parents didn’t want their son to have lost his leg for the rest of his life. Then my dad’s colleague, Dr. David Banks, recommended Dr. Loveless from Nemours Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville who happened to be his son’s physician.
At that time Dr. Loveless wasn’t accepting new patients, but managed to give us an appointment. After that appointment he immediately dismissed the amputation idea and scheduled some exams and then my first surgery at Wolfson Children’s Hospital 6 months later.
That surgery was a very complicated one, but my parents told me that I was so brave. Just to tell you how successful this surgery was, four months later I took my first steps and put on my first tennis shoe.
I have had three more surgeries wsince then, but less complicated. All thanks to Dr. Loveless and Wolfson Children’s Hospital. I learned a really good life lesson is to never let a problem stop you from being successful in life. Give it your hardest all the time.
Maxance
