COLUMBIA, MO. • A harmless limp turned into a living nightmare for Brad and Jen Loos. Their spunky 5-year-old daughter, Rhyan, started walking with a limp late last summer.
“It would come and go,” said Brad, Mizzou’s assistant men’s basketball coach. “Jen, with the motherly instinct, she said, ‘Something ain’t right about this.’ Me being the dad (said), ‘Tough it out.’ I was saying, ‘Leave her alone, she’s fine. She’s 5.’”
In early October, the limp got worse. Then came a low-grade fever. They took Rhyan to see a specialist. Maybe it was arthritis, doctors thought.