Help little Šimun take his first steps

4 May 2019 – Despite great fight and desire to walk, numerous malformations are preventing 18-month old Šimun Stojanović from Županja in Slavonia, Croatia, from getting on his feet. 

Šimun was born with a severe and rare diagnosis of spina bifida myelomeningocele and needs a difficult and demanding operation in America.

A benign tumour was removed from his spine, which was located in the neural canal, which the physicians also had to remove because he had a small opening and there was a possibility of infection, so Šimun was in isolation for a long time. He is missing more 25 bones in the extremities of his leg. 

Doctors say that Šimun’s case is unique in the world and they have yet to meet a child with as many deformities. Nor had they seen anything like it in medical manuals, Glas Slavonija writes.

Šimun is the third child of Martina and Tomislav Stojanović and they contacted one of the most renowned doctors in the world, Dr. Dror Paley, who specialises in limb lengthening and deformity correction procedures. 

At the end of January, Dr. Paley saw Šimun in Poland and said he could help him. 

Dr. Paley can perform a hip reconstruction, take out Šimun’s duplicate femur, amputate his lower left leg and reconstruct the foot of his right leg. The operation would be performed in a hospital in Florida, Miami (West Palm Beach) by Dr. Paley and a team of doctors and everything will be done at once. Šimun would remain in casts for six weeks before rehabilitation would start. 

The operation needs to be done before the age of two and it is likely it will take place in August or September. The operation costs 1.1 million kuna. 

The Croatian Health Insurance Fund will cover the costs of the operation but recovery is expected to last six months in America and the family needs financial support to cover those costs. 

“Šimun’s recovery will take about half a year, and we have to cover all the costs of living in America, which is currently unattainable after all the trips to Zagreb for tests, medical supplies that we finance alone, as well as having two other children. Help us  to go with Šimun to get his “new legs”. Help us so our baby can finally walk.”

You can donate and help Šimun on the following account:

Erste Bank: MARTINA STOJANOVIĆ, Županja
HR3624020063103590525
Description: ‘Darovanje za zdravstvene potrebe-Šimun Stojanović’
International donations: BIC/SWIFT is: ESBCHR22

There is a GoFundMe page you can visit here to donate: https://www.gofundme.com/first-step-for-little-simun?fbclid=IwAR2glnPMO8Czq8ytqAdIz5I3WHrjgEdUhZd_NYsGmtMrYFXshsI3vPXY_MU

If you can help the family in any other way in America please contact Iva Funtek on: [email protected]