China-Shanghai

Hi! I’m Louise from Shanghai, China. I’m now studying as a G10 student. I love swimming, playing the piano, and travelling to different places.

I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was in about 11 years old. Although it wasn’t severe at that time, just about 12 degrees, I felt terrible about it. I was afraid that I would be teased by other kids at school. So I kept doing the exercise my doctor taught me and going to the hospital to get some treatment once a week. Luckily, I kept my curve from progressing.

嗨！我是来自上海的Louise，是一名十年级学生。我喜欢游泳、弹琴，以及去各地旅行。

我在大概11岁时确诊了脊柱侧弯。虽然当时并不严重，大概只有12度，但我觉得很糟糕，害怕会被同学嘲笑。于是我坚持做操，并每周到医院进行康复训练。幸运的是，我控制住了我的弯度，使它保持在很小的度数。

As I got scoliosis, I tried to learn about it. Surprisingly, I found that actually quite a lot of teenagers have this condition. There were actually another two girls in my class who wore scoliosis braces. They had the same feelings as me when I was first diagnosed-- anxious, helpless and feared others won’t like them anymore just because of their bodies. In order to help them, I told them about my own experiences and we did exercises together. As time went by, they finally got out of the shadow of scoliosis and they could face the reality of their imperfect bodies.

From then on, I am really hoping to help other scoliosis girls feel better about themselves. One day, as I was surfing on the internet, I found your group Curvy Girls, which exactly fits into my imagination that there can be a place for scoliosis girls to share their stories and encourage each other to fight against scoliosis together.

Scoliosis doesn’t stop me from doing the things I love. Actually, it brings us together. So don’t feel anxious about your body, we are going to support you! More together than alone!

当我确诊脊柱侧弯后，经过了解，我非常惊奇地发现其实很多青少年都患有这种疾病。我们班级其实还有两名女生也患有脊柱侧弯，她们的弯度甚至比我的还严重，所以她们不得不佩戴支具。她们像我当初一样，感到焦虑和无助。为了帮助她们，我与她们分享了我自己的故事，与她们一起做康复训练。渐渐地，她们走出了脊柱侧弯的阴影，勇敢地正视自己的身体。

从那以后，我非常希望去帮助脊柱侧弯患者，特别是女孩，去帮助他们改善对自己的看法。有一次我偶然在网上发现了Curvy Girls，它十分符合我的预期，是一个可以提供让侧弯女孩分享经历、互相鼓励的地方。因为上海还没有，所以我非常想去成为这里的leader并且为侧弯女孩提供帮助。

脊柱侧弯并没有阻止我去做我热爱的事情，相反，它把我们联系在了一起。所以，请不要感到焦虑，我们永远会支持你！！