Daniel Wolfram
A Zimbabwean man underwent surgery to strengthen his legs as a child. It nearly ruined his childhood.
Born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, Zvataida “Zah” Chimedza spent his childhood aware of his condition.
When an option appeared to correct his bowed legs, he embraced it.
However, the surgery as a child proved overwhelming, and when he got a chance to lengthen his limbs as a teenager, he thought back on the experience he had.
A choice with consequences
“I was extremely self-conscious about my bow legs, as you can imagine a 9-year-old would be,” Zah, now 35, told PEOPLE. “Presented with the chance to get my bow legs corrected, I jumped at the opportunity.”
In 2001, at 11 years old, he travelled from Zimbabwe to London for surgery at a children’s hospital. Here, doctors performed the procedure to straighten his legs.
“You could be Shakespeare but words truly can’t encapsulate the entire experience,” Zah reminisced about his surgery.
Grueling recovery
Rehabilitation for Zah demanded intense physical labor every day. He endured daily physical therapy, struggled to walk again, and spent a lot of time in a wheelchair.
He also felt isolated and it almost became insurmountable. He missed an entire year of school and was isolated from his friends in Zimbabwe.
“Emotionally, it felt like I missed out on a lot in life while recovering,” he says.
Reclaiming his future
Surgeons offered a second procedure to lengthen his limbs before age 16. After two agonizing years, Zah refused to sacrifice more of his youth for extra height.
“Throughout the almost two-year recovery, it felt as if I missed out on a lot of life experiences that I previously looked forward to,” Zah says of his teenage years. “I was reluctant to make a similar sacrifice at what I considered a key phase of my life at the time.”
Confidence came over time. The grueling ordeal ultimately taught him self-reliance and grit.
“There were many a moment I contemplated giving up, but somehow I found a way to stick with it,” he says. The surgery also gave him a valuable life lesson. “It gave me a new perspective to life, where surely it can’t get tougher than what I already went through with the surgery.”
