22 Kids and Counting star Tillie Radford, the 14th child and seventh daughter of Sue and Noel Radford, has undergone a major health procedure. The 16-year-old recently had a 10-hour operation to reconstruct her knee and lengthen her leg.
Tillie was treated at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool earlier this month. She has been recovering in hospital with ongoing physiotherapy, and her parents have shared updates on her progress.
Family's Pride and Gratitude
In a Facebook post, Sue and Noel expressed their pride in Tillie's recovery. They wrote: "We are honestly so incredibly proud of Tillie. She has done absolutely amazing and shown so much strength and determination throughout her recovery, especially with all her physio. It really is a fantastic hospital [Alder Hey] and we are so grateful for everything they have done for her. Now let's get our girl home!"
A Difficult Night
The family also shared a challenging moment during Tillie's recovery. They revealed they were putting up Halloween decorations early to cheer themselves up after Tillie had "a really rough night." The post continued: "Her pain got so bad we had to ring Alder Hey at 1.30am this morning as we just couldn't do anything to help her." Despite the "awful" evening, Tillie is reportedly doing "a little better" as she continues her recovery.
Background and Future Plans
Tillie suffered a severe bone infection when she was 18 months old, which left her left leg about 3.5cm shorter than her right. In 2019, when she was nine, she had an external mechanical lengthening frame fitted.
This year, Tillie finished secondary school and is now focused on higher education and college applications. Two years ago, she spoke about her dream to become a figure skater, which her dad Noel helped make come true by booking her a private lesson. She shared her anxieties about getting on the ice, saying: "I want to do figure skating when I'm older. That is my dream. I have a massive phobia of being embarrassed when there's other people around. There's a lot of days where I take a break from walking on my tiptoes when I was just watching the number of people staring. I get funny looks or whispering behind the hand about it and it just gets me down."
22 Kids and Counting continues every Sunday at 8pm on Channel 5.
