Valentina has long become a celebrity in her native Astrakhan: from the age of 2 she has been using a prosthesis, but many do not even realize that a special apparatus replaces the girl with a part of her left leg that is missing due to a congenital anomaly. The stadnik is engaged in educational work, maintains a blog with the ironic name Calfshin (veal shank – approx. Healthy Food Near Me) and even dances salsa.
Throughout her life, Valentina has been fighting with passion and knowledge to create the perfect leg prosthesis.
In 2017, specialists from the St. Petersburg innovative prosthetic and orthopedic center “Skoliologic.ru” created a fairly comfortable prosthesis for her, which allowed her to wear shoes with heels up to 5 cm. But Valentina did not stop there: she convinced the center to experiment and agreed to become a test analogs of the innovative device. In it, the usual sleeve is replaced by a silicone liner, and the foot has an individual shell – an exact copy of a healthy leg.
The girl has always dreamed of going to the podium as a model, and now she has such an opportunity – the new prosthesis allows her to walk in very high heels with comfort and grace.
The organizers of the “Caspian Fashion Week”, which will be held in Astrakhan on September 12-13, invited Valentina to take part in the fashion show.
“Vali has a knee joint, a shin and a rudiment of her foot. The shape of her stump is club-shaped, has an expansion at the end, which greatly complicates prosthetics. Her lower leg is long and thin, so it was necessary not only to maintain proportions, but to recreate the volume for symmetry, – said the creator of the prosthesis, Anton Kruglov. – A cosmetic shell, a mirror copy of her healthy foot, was made so that Valya could wear open heeled shoes. Our foot is lightweight, carbon fiber and provides good energy return. It allows you to adapt to uneven surfaces. Now the foot is undergoing international certification. “
Valentina has already got used to the miracle prosthesis. The girl admits that she is very happy and is looking forward to entering the podium. We wish her good luck with all our hearts!
Photo: @ calfshin / Instagram