Courtney Farrington and Nathaniel Woodside have reason to be happy. Their daughter Harmoney Woodside’s clubbed feet have been corrected, and they saw their 13-month-old stand on her feet for the first time, albeit with the aid of a harness. For Farrington and Woodside, it’s all “baby steps” to correcting a birth defect known as arthrogryposis, a number of rare, nonprogressive muscle disorders causing stiff joints and abnormal development of muscles that Harmoney was born with.

“I was very happy … very excited,” said Farrington upon returning home on Saturday after a recent five-week stint in the United States (US) for Harmoney’s leg castings, and therapy.

During their most recent visit, Harmoney had her arms casted for the first time.

Since Harmoney has been seeing the doctor in the US, she has had 15 recasts done on her legs and her mom said she has seen improvements in her daughter’s legs.

“Even though Harmoney has not had any surgeries yet, I feel everything is coming together,” said Farrington. “Her legs got straighter, and they basically corrected her clubbed feet.”

Harmoney has started standing, with assistance. It was basically her first time standing.

“When she started standing without the harness, she was scared. The next day, with the harness, it was like she did it before. She was not scared at all.”

Farrington said she and Harmoney’s dad were happy.

During the recent stint, Harmoney has had to go through twice-a-week castings – a new cast would be placed on her on Tuesday and removed and replaced on Friday. Each time, Harmoney’s parents had to pay $300 and each therapy session the toddler engaged in also cost her parents an additional $300. Farrington took her daughter to therapy daily.

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