$6,000 Raised for Mission Viejo Girl with Rare Bone Disease

"It was just an ambiguous kind of slip. Nothing major."

When five-year-old Jordan Pollard fell in June, her parents found no blood or swelling. But days later, the girl was still limping, mother Shannon Pollard said. It was the beginning of a months-long family trauma that would cost the whole family, both emotionally and financially.

"I was looking for bruising or swelling, and her pain, when you would ask where her pain was, it would change,” Shannon said.

They were overseas on vacation, but the pain became so intense on the plane ride home that Shannon took her daughter directly to the hospital for X-rays of her daughter's knee.

The X-rays came back normal. The doctor guessed it could be a sprain. But Jordan continued to complain of pain, and soon she began limping badly.

A follow-up with a bone specialist was just as ambiguous as the first trip to the doctor.

"He told her to do her chores and walk normally," Shannon said.

They thought Jordan could have been acting out for attention. That didn't seem right to her mother, but she followed doctor's orders.

It was a decision she would later regret.

On a return visit to the pediatrician—this time for a cough—Shannon refused to leave until her daughter's entire leg was X-rayed. That's when the mystery pain was finally understood.

Jordan had somehow developed a rare condition called Legg-Calve-Perthes disease. The disease cuts off blood to the hip, and in severe cases can lead to hip collapse, requiring hip replacement.

The diagnosis brought on strong emotions for Shannon. First there was guilt.

"For a month and a half I was telling my daughter to walk normally," she said. "I felt like the worse mother on the planet."

But the diagnosis also meant that someone finally believed her, and confirmed her daughter wasn't faking the pain. It meant that something really was wrong.

The family found a specialist in Baltimore to perform emergency surgery. Stem cells from Jordan's healthy hip were injected into her diseased hip. Three "massive" pins were drilled through her pelvis, along with three holes to allow blood into the hip, Shannon said.

During their Baltimore stay, Jordan was placed in a home with other kids with Perthes disease. Shannon learned that Perthes kids tend to be athletic, so their injuries are sometimes dismissed as sports injuries. At the home she met a mom whose son had collapsed on the football field. He had to have hip replacement surgery at age 13.

Since she's one of the first to receive this surgery, Jordan is part of a study. The Pollards won't know the results until February.

"It’s going to be a very dicey four month," Shannon said. "But kids are resilient. Hopefully she won’t remember it."

Still, the strain has been tough on the family. The Pollards have put their two-year-old in day care for the first time. That and the medical bills have created a huge financial strain for the family of four, Shannon said.

Her insurance company is calling the surgery experimental. That means the family is getting little help from their insurer.

The community has stepped in to help the Pollards defray their mounting medical costs, which she estimates will be over $100,000. Most recently an event featuring mixed martial arts athletes raised $6,000 for Jordan.

Jordan's school, Grace Christian Preschool, has helped by selling "Team Jordan" bracelets, too.

Shannon, a paralegal, has already started her appeal against her insurer. But it will likely be years before the issue is settled in court. Meanwhile the family is facing massive debt.

Anyone interested in helping can send donations to the Pollard family through PayPal. Their website, ahipforjordan.com, was set up for that purpose, and to help people keep track of her progress.