""When I was three, they closed my heart up, and as I grew older the difference in leg length grew bigger. "Because the difference was getting so much bigger, I had to get special shoes. On the right side they cut the heel and put extra material in it so I could walk equally. "They measured when I could have surgery when my left leg stopped growing and my right leg could grow equally - and when I was 12 I had that surgery.""
""They broke my growing bones from the knee. Luckily my right leg did grow equally and now it's only a couple of millimetres' difference. I can still tell there is a difference!""
""It sounds so normal for me, but it's a pretty complicated situation.""
Katja Snoeijs was born with a congenital heart defect and a significant left-leg overgrowth, requiring major heart surgery at age three and leg surgery at 12. Before corrective surgery, she used bespoke shoes with an altered right heel to compensate for a roughly six-centimetre discrepancy. Doctors did not determine the cause of the asymmetric leg growth despite multiple medical checks. The leg operation involved interrupting growth at the knee, reducing the difference to a few millimetres. She is now 29, a Netherlands international and Everton striker, remains healthy aside from minor hip complaints, and undergoes periodic heart screening.
Read at www.bbc.com
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