Peyton, Age 5, of Northlake, Texas
Peyton shares a special bond with Dr. Morris. She treasures the photo below so much that she takes the printed photo everywhere she goes. Her father, Andrew, says, “She brings it to Scottish Rite for her appointments and asks people, ‘Have you seen this man: Dr. Morris? I need to find him.’” Whitney, her mother, laughs saying, “like a missing person situation.”
When Peyton was 4, her pediatrician referred her to Scottish Rite for Children for scoliosis. She saw pediatric orthopedic surgeon Megan E. Johnson, M.D., who confirmed scoliosis but said they needed to address another condition first — hip dysplasia. On short notice, Dr. Morris and his team met with the family. “They made sure to see us that day to ease our minds and go through pretty terrifying news,” Andrew says.
Peyton’s right hip was dislocated, and she needed surgery. Andrew and Whitney were shocked. “The weekend before, she was running and jumping and scored four goals in her soccer game,” Whitney says. But, her hip was completely out of socket. “We were looking at the X-ray and seeing just how crooked her poor little body was,” Andrew says. “It was heartbreaking to see.”
Dr. Morris explains, “In infants, toddlers and younger kids like Peyton, you can have a completely dislocated hip, and there’s no pain. The only sign may be that kids will walk with a painless limp.”
When Peyton was learning to walk, Andrew remembers they called it her little goose walk. “She did this hop skip thing, but we never thought much of it,” he says. “We thought, ‘She’s just a little girl who’s bouncy and bubbly.’”
Babies can be born with hip dislocation or just have a shallow socket. The ball begins in the socket, but over time, the hip can become unstable, with the ball going in and out of the socket or becoming dislocated. “We use the term developmental hip dislocation because we sometimes don’t know exactly when it starts,” Dr. Morris says.
In April 2025, Peyton underwent surgery and came out with a spica cast. “It went all the way from her chest down to her ankles,” Whitney says. “The thought of her being trapped, essentially, was pretty overwhelming.” Both of Peyton’s legs were casted and spread with a bar between them to keep the ball of her right hip in the socket. After seven weeks, Dr. Morris completed a second surgery that revealed Peyton’s hip was healing well. He removed her spica cast and applied a Petrie cast that was more forgiving, going only to the top of her thighs on both legs so she could bend at the waist. She wore that one for a month, and at the end of June, the cast was removed. The family refers to this important day as “Cast Off, Crown On.”
Peyton loves Disney princesses. When she got home from getting her cast off, her family gave her a surprise party complete with a sparkle princess dress and multiple crowns from which to choose. At her follow-up appointment, she wore the dress with glitter in her hair and her crown. She also brought a crown for Dr. Morris.
“Being a father of 8- and 5-year-old daughters, it was not my first time wearing a tiara,” Dr. Morris says. “Peyton has been bubbly, enthusiastic and brave through this whole process, and it was so much fun to be a part of that celebration with her.”
After wearing two casts and getting around in a wheelchair for almost three months, Peyton healed quickly. At first, she scooted around on her bottom, then crawled. After a few weeks, she began walking, and shortly after, she ran. “Peyton has done fabulously well,” Dr. Morris says. “She is back to doing everything she wants to do.”
“I didn’t know it could be this good,” Whitney says about the care Peyton received at Scottish Rite. “They clearly care very deeply about the kids, and they put so much emphasis on making sure they don’t feel scared or alone.”
In November, Peyton and her family took a celebration trip to Disney World. As Peyton rode the rides and met the characters, so did Dr. Morris — at least in spirit through the “Cast Off, Crown On” photo that Peyton brought along for the adventure.
