Newark, N.J., Jun 14, 2008 / 17:00 pm
Friday can’t come soon enough for Alejandro Pabon. That’s when he’ll be fitted for his new leg prosthetics at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia — almost 4 months later than anticipated.
Pabon, 16, known as “Alex,” or “Dro” by classmates from St. Mark’s High School in Wilmington, Delaware has Grebes Salgado Syndrome, a type of short-limbed dwarfism that affects less than 1 percent of the population.
Although his arms and hands are completely functional, Pabon typically relies on his prosthetic legs to get around. A surgery last November, called a “Symes” amputation, intended to help improve his mobility and posture, removed part of both Pabon’s feet, leaving him to use a wheelchair until his limbs heal completely.
As a junior, Pabon enrolled at St. Mark’s in 2006 when his father, Hiram, an engineer at AstraZeneca, relocated the family to Delaware from Puerto Rico.