Hi there! My name is Gary Turner and I reside in Denver,CO. I was glad to find your site and would like to share my story, too. I'm 29 and an only child who was born with a severely clubbed right foot. My left foot was also clubbed but it was only the tendons. The right foot was the more severe bone deformity version of a club foot (Equinovarus). I have a smaller right calf, but through avid bicycling and kung fu training it has more strength and flexibility than when I was younger. I also have a cousin who is now 13 years old who was born with a left clubfoot. Surgeries have been a part of my life and I even work in a hospital now "returning the favor". I had what appears to be some abs on my hands and toes, similar to little Evan. Doctors told my family I wouldn't live past 6 months and that I'd be mentally retarded. But here I am, still hard to kill and going for my third college diploma!

It was difficult growing up. That made me a stronger individual today, though. There was plenty of physical pain and still is. Socially, it made things difficult being the kid who walked funny. I still managed a 7:12 mile but could hardly walk for three days afterwards. I can also tell you segregation and discrimination is still alive and well in the South. I hung out with the other "outcasts" in school. Archaic Victorian thinking is a carryover from Europe and it's still very much a part of culture in the South. After a while, I just found other stuff to do rather than trying to fit in with everybody else that didn't get along well in the first place. I found friends who accepted me for who I am, and rejection from the mainstream was part of that journey. Our uniqueness makes us special and not less than anyone else.

I did well in basketball for a few years but a better fit was cycling, kung fu, weight lifting, and racing. It's good to keep active, even if it isn't smearing the competition all over a football field. I think the pain that comes from clubbed feet makes individuals better fighters, smarter, and more adaptable individuals. Adversity and adaptation becomes a part of our lives and virtually second nature. Custom hard-sole orthotics helped more than I could ever describe. I still trash shoes every three months but I'm quite active in the first place and hate sitting still.

Gary