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What first appeared to be an innocent playground injury has turned into a year of surgeries for a nine-year old Hamilton girl.

Madison Morris dislocated and fractured her elbow while playing on some monkey bars last August. Since her latest procedure, Madison’s arm has been locked at a 90 degree angle.

“I was going to do a flip and I showed someone, but then I did a flip and my arm got caught,” she says.

Her mother Krystal Randles, says at first it didn’t appear too serious.

“When we took her for an x-ray they said just go over to the hospital they’ll pop it back in. We thought it would be a quick, easy 1, 2, 3 in.”

Then, they heard the word “surgery”.

“They put a pin in it and casted it. When they tool the cast off 6 weeks later it came right back out.”

Randles says Madison went through six procedures in total at McMaster Children’s Hospital, including reconstructive surgery and hardware removal. Since her last operation in December, Madison’s elbow has been locked at a painful and uncomfortable 90 degree angle.

While she doesn’t have a problem playing with the families puppies, the injury has presented other challenges.

“Brushing my hair and eating and touching my shoulder, stuff like that.”

According to Randles, 15 weeks of physiotherapy failed to work, and now doctors want to re-break the arm to help it heal. But Madison’s mom says that’s out of the question.

Due to confidentiality the hospital won’t comment specifically on Madison’s case, but the Chief of Pediatric Surgery, Helene Flageole, says in some rare complex injuries multiple procedures can be necessary.

“Usual practice would be if there is hardware that needs to be used to repair the injury, that hardware needs to be removed later on.”

Flageole says children will often be administered an anesthetic to avoid discomfort. But after almost a year of procedures, Randles is now seeking an appointment with an occupational therapist. While Madison, just wants to move her arm again.