Personal Statement
"Never be ashamed of a scar. It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you." - (Unknown)
At age 10, I was invited to play on a travel all-star team out of Bridgton, Maine. Everything was going fine until my mom was curious about why there was a big hump in my right shoulder. She always pushed down on it to see if it would move. It never did. It eventually got to the point that it hurt whenever I threw a ball. We both knew we had had enough of it when it was keeping me from trying to be the best I could be. I couldn't throw as hard as I could. That's when we knew we had to do something.
My school sports trainer suggested we go to Dr. Karen Bailey. My trainer worked her insider magic and managed to get me in pretty soon. Once I got into Dr. Baileys' office, she performed kinetic chain release. She tried to even out my hips because that's what she thought was causing all the twists and popped out shoulder blades. That only made one leg 3/4 of an inch longer, which did in fact even them out.
After all that, my shoulder was still all messed up and my back was starting to hurt really bad periodically. That's when Dr. Bailey recommended going to Dr. Anson who is an Orthopedic Surgeon. He had me get x-rays and wait for the results. A few days later, the doctor called my mom and told her that we should come in as soon as possible. We make an appointment for a few days after the call. The doctor walks in the room with all his papers and a paper scan of my x-ray that I nor my mom have seen yet. The results were shocking for even the doctor when he saw them for the first time. Dr. Anson showed us the x-ray and told me I had severe scoliosis. I had 3 curves in my back. One of which was 45º, the other was 35º and the biggest one was in the middle of my back at 75º. 25º-30º would have been bracing me to try and straighten me out, but I was way beyond that point.
On March 14th, 2016, I had my surgery. I feel like the surgery has changed me in a big way. It definitely made me more mentally tough, as well as physically. It made me a stronger individual. I'm learning to get stronger and fine tune everything I do now.
