Young girl with rare disorder has had over 20 procedures at Montreal Children's
Rita-Elinor Katz was born with a rare genetic disorder called Pfieffer Syndrome, which causes the bones of the skull and face and some limbs to fuse prematurely.
That means her face and skull did not grow as quickly as it should have and it impeded the growth of her brain, an issue for her development.
"I've been here 35 years. I have two Pfeiffer patients; it's not a very common disease," said pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Jean-Pierre Farmer.
Farmer and Dr. Mirko Gilardino worked with other specialists and have performed 23 surgeries that expanded Katz's skull to keep up with her brain growth.
"The biggest emergency came at 17 months of life when Rita's face was so small that her eyes were continuously popping out of their sockets to the point where she was going to lose vision, and we were stuck to perform a fairly risky procedure at a fairly young age," said Gilardino.
Their mono-block advancement procedure saved her eyesight, a surgery that was a first in Canada because she was so young.
Katz and her family will be a part of the annual Bell Media Caring for Kids Radiothon on Thursday to raise money for the Montreal Children's Hospital.
The fundraiser helps increase money for projects and medical and surgical equipment.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978861.1722008569!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
At least 4 buildings burned at Jasper Park Lodge, others damaged: Fairmont memo
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge said Thursday afternoon most of its structures are 'standing and intact,' including its iconic main lodge.
Major Canadian bank experiences direct deposit outage on payday
Scotiabank says it has fixed a technical issue that impacted direct deposits on Friday morning.
'He was just gone': Police ramp up search for vulnerable 3-year-old boy in Mississauga, Ont.
Police in Mississauga are conducting a full-scale search of the city’s biggest park for a non-verbal toddler who went missing Thursday evening. Sgt. Jennifer Trimble told reporters Friday morning that there has been no trace of three-year-old Zaid Abdullah since 6:20 p.m., when he was last seen with his parents in Erindale Park, near Dundas Street West and Mississauga Road.
Sask. appeal court says anti-trans group cannot join constitutional dispute over pronoun law
Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has denied a political group that opposes so-called “gender ideology” intervener status in a legal dispute over the province’s controversial pronoun law.
Justin Timberlake's attorney disputes he was intoxicated when arrested for DWI
A hearing in the case of Justin Timberlake being accused of driving while intoxicated was held Friday, where an attorney for the singer disputed his arrest in June.
Elon Musk's estranged daughter calls out his 'entirely fake' claims about her childhood
Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter, publicly refuted several recent anti-trans statements her Tesla CEO and X owner father has made about her.
What we know about 'malicious' attack on French train network ahead of Olympics opening
French transport was thrust into chaos Friday just hours ahead of the Olympics 2024 opening ceremony after a series of co-ordinated 'malicious acts' upended high-speed train lines.Here's what happened and what we know so far.
Harvey Weinstein in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 and contracting double pneumonia
Disgraced and imprisoned movie mogul Harvey Weinstein 'tested positive for COVID and contracted double pneumonia in his lungs,' Juda Engelmayer, Weinstein’s spokesman, said in a statement Thursday.
Reported rate of child pornography increased 52% in 2023, total crime up 3%: Statistics Canada
Last year, reported child pornography cases increased by more than 50 per cent in Canada, in part due to more cases being sent to police by specialized internet child exploitation units, according to a Statistics Canada report.