YSU grad undergoes painful limb-lengthening surgeries

By Denise Dick

denise_dick@vindy.com

MINERAL RIDGE

During the past nine years, Kelsey Ault underwent 11 surgeries to lengthen her limbs and managed to graduate summa cum laude from Youngstown State University in four years.

Ault, a daughter of Robert and Sherry Ault, was born with achondroplasia, the most- common form of dwarfism. At 13, she was 3 feet 11 inches tall and decided to endure the surgeries at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore.

“It was definitely worth it,” she said.

Ault, now nearly 5 feet tall, graduates from YSU today with a degree in psychology.

The additional height allows her to do things most people don’t even think about.

“I can buy clothes off the rack,” she said. “I can drive a car without pedal extensions.”

The surgeries involved breaking the bones and pulling them farther apart each day.

“New bone forms in the space that’s created,” Ault said.

Before the first surgery, she and her family didn’t know what to expect. The process was painful, but she tried to keep a positive attitude.

“I thought, ‘I can do this’ — and it was well worth it,” Ault said.

Her parents had watched a news program about the procedure before Kelsey decided to have the surgeries.

“I thought Kelsey was fine the way she was,” Sherry Ault said. “But it’s her life, and I thought if she decides to do the surgeries, we’d handle it.”

She saw some of what her daughter dealt with because of her height. Salespeople would look past her to the person behind her when she walked up to a counter.

“She said at a young age, ‘The world is not going to change for me. ... I’m going to have to have to adjust to the world,’” Sherry Ault said.

Doctors performed 11 surgeries on her legs and arms. She spent about three months in Baltimore after the surgery while her legs healed. She couldn’t walk after the leg surgeries, and her mom wheeled her around in a wheelchair.

She finished eighth grade during the summer. She graduated from high school and college in four years each, taking classes each summer during college to ensure she graduated on time.

While in physical therapy, she tried to help younger children who underwent limb-lengthening surgeries. That led to her plans for a career as an occupational therapist. She plans to take a year off from school to work on her gait and then pursue a master’s degree.

Sherry Ault says her daughter’s ordeal has made her more empathetic.

“She’s very kind to people,” she said. “That makes me as proud as anything she’s ever done.”