We were really pleased to find your site. We twins Melanie and Stephanie 16 years old had our operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital at the end of November. We both had frames on both tibias to lengthen our legs by 10cm. We suffer from Leri Weill - short arms and legs. We would love to e mail anyone else anywhere in the world as we don't know anyone else with two frames. We are in wheelchairs and a bit fed up. We hate physio so walking is taking a long time. But the pin sites look brilliant. Do please write .....

This was the first communication I had with Stephanie. Since then she has sent me several pictures and newspaper articles about her and her sister's dealings with the Ilizarov frame as doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital gradually increase the height of both girls.
Both sisters suffer from something called Leri Weill syndrome. This is related to dwarfism but affects the arms and legs. Prior to the Ilizarov procedure both sisters only stood 4' 7" [140cm] tall.
They are hoping to find any people [especially twins!] wearing two frames at once.
If this happens to be YOU then please drop me a line via e-mail and I'll pass your address onto Melanie & Stephanie.

Stephanie's letter	Stephanie and Melanies pictures
The First Newpaper article [ This page requires a .CSS enabled browser to view. IE4 or NS4 or above.]	The Second Newspaper article
The only links found so far for Leri Weill and other similar medical conditions

Update March 2000

I recently received a couple of e-mails from Melanie and Stephanie. These were to tell me that respectively they have now stretched themselves 78mm and 75mm.
As they've also just had their 17th Birthday, that must be the best present they could have had.
They have also featured in a UK Womans magazine called Woman's Own (13th March 2000).
I have added a copy of this article [Reproduced in B/W to shorten download time] to the new Articles Download Page.
Please see the entry 'TWINS' there for further information.