Singapore

Hi! I’m Celeste and I’m 14 years old. I love reading, watching Gilmore girls, sports and I’m a Swiftie. My fav sports are swimming, cycling and running and really want to do cheer but it is not popular in Singapore.

My Mother first spotted the unevenness of my shoulders when I was 10. In late 2020, I was diagnosed with mild scoliosis but no treatment was done. Mine is not the typical ‘C’ or ‘S’ curve. I actually have 3 curves. About a year later, my scoliosis worsened and I was told I had to wear a brace. My brace was a Boston brace. I felt very alone. I didn’t like  wearing my brace and tried to ignore it. To be honest, I never wore my brace for the 18 hours I was supposed to. This happened during COVID when we weren’t at school so I didn’t know anyone else in my situation. I was also in denial for a while. Now I have been wearing my brace for 3 years. My curves have increased, but I don’t need surgery.

Being a leader is something I’ve always dreamed of becoming. When I found out about Curvy Girls, I tried to find a group in Singapore. Since there wasn’t one here, I wanted to start one to help others be more comfortable talking about their scoliosis. I think that would have helped me be more confident in the beginning. When I thought to about starting a chapter here, I remembered Taylor Swift’s lyrics “You’re on your own kid, yeah you can face this. You’re on your own kid, you always have been.” And  now we don’t have to be on our own. Now we can have each other’s “backs!”