LI man turns to surgery to get taller

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. The 20-year-old from East Meadow is having his thigh bones lengthened with the help of rods, both inside and outside his legs.

"I took this into my own hands and I'm going to do something about it and fix it," he said.

Lenny means that literally. Four times a day he turns a screw, which widens the gap in between his thigh bones. They were cut during surgery this winter. A new bone grows in and it adds up to one millimeter a day, or about an inch a month.

At the start of the procedure, Lenny was 5'1". By May, Lenny will be four inches taller.

Those four inches to Lenny mean the difference between being a short guy and a really short guy.

"It's five months out of your life, a semester of college, to gain some normality," he said.

Lenny and his parents didn't take the decision to have the surgery lightly. Lenny survived cancer of the salivary gland as a teenager.

"I've been to hell and back. I've experienced surgery for something bad before and this is for something good," Roth said.

Lenny was born with a conditon that causes bowed legs. This procedure will also straighten his legs. By this time next year, he'll be back to a slightly taller version of normal.

"At the end of the process, he'll be able to do everything," Dr. Robert Rozbruch said.

For now, Lenny takes medication for the muscle aches and pains that come with the procedure. He'll be back to his business studies at U-Conn in the fall. He says he's looking forward to, among other things, buying some new, longer pants.


NEW YORK AND TRI-STATE AREA NEWS

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