Features: A Message from Claes Nobel Advisory Board Highlight - Tyra Banks High School Highlight Partner News College-Bound Advice A Senior's Words of Wisdom for the College Application Process Internships from a Student's Perspective Learn to Earn ABCs on the SAT Spotlight on Service Tsunami Relief: How You Can Help Red Cross: Give the Gift of Life--Every Drop Counts Students Follow Their Passion -- Taking Advantage of Special Opportunities People to People: An Adventure of a Lifetime The Joy of Journalism Adventure in the Alps: Summer in Switzerland Overcoming Challenges Coping with Change: Coming to America Struggling with Scoliosis: Obstacles into Opportunities Overcoming Personal Affliction Struggling with Scoliosis: Obstacles into Opportunities By Madison Lyleroehr South Doyle High School, Class of 2005 Knoxville, Tennessee Imagine being 13 years old, heading gleefully into the 8th grade, and suddenly being told that you have such a severe case of scoliosis that surgeons have to break the bones in your back and insert metal rods to straighten your spine. The bones will fuse back together, but no one knows exactly how long before you'll be "normal" again. And although they try, the doctors and nurses can't tell you what this ordeal will really be like because not one of them has ever had spinal fusion surgery. One unforgettable June day, I found myself in this exact predicament. When I first heard the news, my shock was unimaginable. I'd walked into the doctor's office for a routine exam and walked out with a new and frightening life. For a day or two, I just sat around and cried, but soon I accepted the inevitable. Sure, the thought of having a 15" incision down my side was just plain scary, but it didn't help to be worried or sad. I just kept wishing that I knew more about what I would be dealing with. Happily, my surgery was a great success--but my six months of recovery were tedious in every way. There came a point where I didn't care about the pain or anything; I just wanted to be back at school with my friends. It didn't help when my Mom made me watch a nine-hour Civil War documentary. After that, I decided to do something useful. I really wanted to help other kids who had to face this same ordeal, and I remembered wishing that I'd known someone who'd been through it all. Oddly enough, the head surgical nurse at East Tennessee Children's Hospital called me that very day. "Madison," she said, "we've always wanted one of our scoli patients to write a booklet about the surgery--something we could give other patients so they'd know what to expect." I was thrilled. I began writing immediately. Now in its fourth printing, my booklet, "Dealing with Scoliosis Surgery," is still distributed to all the hospital's spinal fusion patients. My surgeon jokes that they pay more attention to what "Madison says" than to what he tells them. Last year at school, a girl I didn't know walked up to me in the hall and said, "I have your book My surgery is next week. I've never met you, but right now you're my best friend!" Even though I wouldn't wish the surgery on anyone, for me it was a watershed experience. That may sound crazy, but it's true. I now have a confidence and an optimism that I didn't have before. Every day, I'm happy to be alive and well. But most of all, I have learned that true happiness doesn't come from what you get; it comes from what you give. And that maybe, just maybe, things do happen for a reason. << Back to Journal Home page