Southern Ohio Group

     In the April of 2009, I was diagnosed with a "significant case of scoliosis." We had a few different opinions but finally decided on Dr. Alvin Crawford at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. After I was diagnosed I felt really scared and alone. At school I had seen a preview for the 2009 TeenNick HALO awards and saw Leah's story. I found her website and started talking to her and her mom about starting a group. Pretty soon I had flyers printed and distributed them to my pediatrician and two local hospitals and I also brought one to my school nurse. It was really slow at first; only one girl contacted me. While I was waiting for more girls to contact me, I was able to help Julia, founder of the Curvy Girls of Illinois, and her mom start a group.

    2010 is when everything started to change, for me and my group. In early 2010, I was told that I would need surgery to correct my scoliosis. When we finally had a date set, it came out to be November 1st. In the summer of 2010, I had three girls interested in my group. I knew that one day I would have a group and that day was finally here.

   I was never very scared or nervous about my surgery. Yes, I did have my moments. Waiting for the day to come was the worst. The actual surgery was NOwhere near what I thought it would be. I had my surgery November 1st, and went home November 6th. Before my surgery I was pretty independent, so one of the hardest parts after surgery was accepting help doing everyday tasks. Right now I am three weeks post-op and can do pretty much everything by myself now. I have come so far from the week I was in the hospital.

   The Curvy Girls helped to encourage me and support me through my scoliosis journey, and I started a group to help other girls that are going through the same things I was.